Ruby B-312, The Fall of Reach
by lrdchief
Summary: Branchoff of my other story, Spartan Ruby B-312 Noble 6, Team RWBY watch the fall of Reach through their leader's eyes.
1. Chaoter 1: Winter Contingency

ok 1st chapter of the fall. This was a whule coming I know, but copying transcripts and editing them is a pain, and with what I have going on at the moment, updates may be once every month or so, at least until things settle down and Im free again.

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**The screen started to play as Ruby looked down at it, wiping the screen once before flipping it around and putting it on her head. She was in a car-like vehicle with a machine gun mounted in the back, being driven along on a dirt track. Once it arrived at its destination, Ruby got out and walked towards the structure nearby. Inside, she was greeted by a man wearing similar looking armour to her, but with different colourings and design of the titanium plating. His helmet was different too, a large glass visor with a crude carving of a skull etched into the glass. He was sharpening his combat knife as he sat. There was a conversation going on in the background, but before she could take another step, a bionic arm came in front of her, as a woman with short hair, and the same kind of armour stepped in front of her.**

**"Commander." She said in a thick accent that was unfamiliar. Both the man at the console and the much bulkier man turned to face Ruby, all wearing different variants of the armour.**

**"So that's our new number 6." the bulky man said in a gruff voice.**

**"Kat, you read her file?" The man with the skull helmet asked.**

**"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink." Came the short reply, the commander turned back to the console.**

**"Anyone came responsibility, sir?" He asked as the reply came over the radio.**

**"ONI thinks it could be the local insurrection. 5 months ago, they pulled a similar job like this on Harmony, get a relay to get our eyes and ears down then stole two frigates from dry-dock. That can't happen here, Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online Noble 1."**

**"Sir, consider it done."**

**"Then I'll see you on the other side, Holland out." The transmission ended as the commander turned round to Ruby.**

**"Lieutenant," he called out.**

**"Commander, Sir, Call me Red" Ruby replied as she walked up to him.**

Everyone looked at Ruby, "Nickname that stuck." she clarified.

**"I'm Carter, Noble team's leader. that's Kat, Noble 2, Emile and Jorge, 4 and 5. You're riding with me, Noble 6." He had gestured to the skull helmet as Emile, and the bulky one as Jorge, as they exited the building towards some Falcons, small basically bullhead frames, with two guns on either side.**

**"Not going to lie to you, Red." Carter continued putting on his helmet as they walked, another member with a large sniper rifle joining them. "You're about to step into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled. Me? I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength. Just one thing, I've seen your file, even the parts the ONI sensors didn't want me to, I'm glad to have your skill set."**

**There was a pause as the sniper, Carter and Ruby got on board the Falcon, and he gestured to the pilot to lift off. "But, we're a team. That lone wolf stuff? Stays behind, clear?"**

**"Crystal, sir," Ruby replied, the sniper looked at her finally,**

**"Welcome to Reach." Is all he said as they took off.**

Ruby paused the video there and gestured to the sniper. "Jun, Noble 3, since you didn't get an introduction." The others turned to face her, "Any questions so far?"

"What are the Insurrectionists?" Blake asked,

"Terrorists." came Ruby's reply. "Like the White Fang, but way worse. Instead of fighting against racism and for equal rights, the Insurrectionists seek to topple the United Earth Government. They perform terrorist attacks, bombings in the outer colonies, steal weapons and machines, there's even suicide bombers sent out to just blow up a bunch of people."

"And the armour you're all wearing?" Weiss asked,

"MJOLNIR Mark-V Powered Assault armour, a suit of power armour that cost the same as a light frigate, allowing breathing in space, has rechargeable energy shielding, boosts your abilities and reaction times. all while providing enough protection to fall from orbit and just walk it off, with a little assistance. However, if we were to somehow get our hands on more sets, do not try them on unless you're augmented, like me. They make you move at such a rate that it's too much strain on your body and it shatters your bones, crushing you to death in the suit." Ruby explained as the others gave her horrified glances, "I was fine, the Spartan II's tested it beforehand. Halsey wouldn't have given it to us if it wasn't safe for us, she's the head of research at ONI." They maintained their expression as they turned to face the screen.

**The video resumed as Ruby was sitting in the Falcon with Carter and Jun, flying over the countryside with another Falcon not too far away; Jorge, Emile and Kat sitting in the back. Carter spoke up, giving the team a mission debrief. "Listen up Noble Team, we're looking at a downed relay post 50 clicks from Visegrad. We're gonna introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, and then Kat's gonna get it back online."****"Just get me under the hood Commander," Kat remarked over the comms, looking at Carter.****"Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of colonies?" Jorge asked, confusion adamant in his voice.****"You get a chance, Maybe you can ask 'em, Jorge."****They flew in silence for a time before Kat spoke up again, "Commander, we just lost our signal from HQ."****"Backup channels?"****"Searching… Nada. Can't say what's jamming us."****"You heard her, dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip."****"I'm lonely already." Lamented Emile as the feed paused again.**

Yang looked puzzled for a moment, "Clicks?" She asked her team leader,

"Kilometers; we say clicks to save time, helps in more intense situations." Came Ruby's reply,

"Where is Kat from?" Blake asked, "Her accent is different than everyone else."

"Well, She is from the same planet I was raised on; New Harmony, but I think her accent is Israeli, from a region on Earth known as Israel. There's loads of different accents and languages, though English is the most prevalent."

"Any particular reason why Jorge is so big compared to the rest of you?" Weiss asked her partner.

"Yes actually, he's a Spartan II, and one of the most humble there is probably, considering they don't even remember their parents, only the training to follow orders."

"That's awful." Weiss frowned as the others made similar expressions, Ruby just shrugged.

"Hey, they were taken at the age of 6 and trained from day one to be super-soldiers, what'd you expect? I do remember seeing that a small group running back home shortly after their augmentations, to discover they had been replaced by flash clones; A genetic copy of them, retaining the knowledge, or are they implanted? I forget, but they begin to break down after a few years, so they couldn't use them for the program, unfortunately."

"R-right." Came the heiress' nervous reply as she turned back to the screen.

**The feed resumed as the Falcons touched down,****"Picking up a distress beacon." Kat voiced as they dismounted.****"Could be the missing troopers, let's check it out." Carter replied, "Jun, I want your eyes on the sky."****"Roger that, Commander,"****"Alright, Noble Team spread out."****They made their way to the distress beacon, which was under dome pallets next to a trashed outpost, the vehicle in flames.****Emile threw the pallets aside as he picked up the beacon.****"Found the beacon." He muttered to Kat, tossing it to her,****"Make out any ID?" Carter asked,****"Negative, but it's military."****"So where are the troopers?" Jorge asked.****"Captured?" Ruby offered, as Emile examined the wreckage more.****"Why aren't we seeing any explosive residue?" Kat wondered****"Noble 3, can you confirm any ex residue in the area?"****"Mmm… negative sir, plasma maybe."****"Can't be." Jorge spoke up, "Not on Reach."**

"Why does he say that?" Blake asked.

"Insurrectionists don't use plasma weaponry, only Covvies do," Ruby replied grimly, to which the colour drained slightly from Blake and Weiss' faces.

**"There's a lot of blood on the ground." Emile murmured to the rest of the team.****"Alright Noble, looks like there's nothing here, let's move on," Carter called out to the team, as he headed west.****"Smoke at the next structure boss," Kat observed.****"Let's continue circling westward and check it out, Noble Team, you have permission to engage, but be selective, we don't want to telegraph our presence."****They followed the path as some large flightless birds came squawking past, And up to the house overlooking the cliff. They made their way through, assessing the damage along the way, shelves knocked over, the contents spilt over the floor.****"Noble Leader, I'm seeing heat sigs in the structure ahead." Came Jun over the comms, as Ruby and Emile closed in on the house, a sliding door opened, as a man stepped out, with others behind him, remaining inside.****"On your knees, now!" Emile threatened as the man cowered beneath his shotgun, sobbing in a different language.****"They're not rebels," Jorge pointed out, "They're farmers. Look at them." The man was indeed of the farmer type, beanie on his head with a fleece top and dirty fingers.****"Ask him what they're doing here." Carter gestured, and Jorge walked up to the man, kneeling down to him, as he began speaking the same language.****After a small conversation, Jorge stands up again, "Hiding, sir." He replied. "Neighbors were attacked last night. He heard screams, gunfire. It stopped around sunrise. He says something in the fields… killed his son."****"Something?" Ruby asks, looking to Emile, "I'm not sure I like where this is going."****Jun's voice crackles over the coms, "Commander, be advised: I'm reading heat signatures at the structure directly east from your position. Over."****"Copy that." Carter replies, "Get them back inside!" They walk up to the building, and as they enter are greeted with corpses, a few in marine uniform slumped against the wall and sprawled on the floor.****"Damn." Carter curses, as they examined the bodies,****"Fill me in Commander, What do have you seen? Over." Jun enquiries from his perch outside.****"We've got military casualties. Two of the missing troopers. Looks like they were interrogated... It's messy."****They get back up, and Carter signalled to head forward, cautiously, with guns at the ready they continue. The team don't get 10 feet when they hear commotion on the roof, the metal clang of footsteps, and some noises that sounded animalistic.****"Movement, watch your motion trackers." There was indeed a red dot flared up on the motion tracker of Ruby's hud.****"What the hell was that?" Emile called put as they all glanced above then to the noise, the red dot disappearing.****"Jun, you see anything?" Carter asked the sniper.****"Negative. Thermals clean." Came his reply, as the cross a courtyard and into another building.****"Boss: I see movement, outside your structure!" Jun then called out, as multiple dots appeared on Ruby's radar.****"Noble Two, move up to the west," Carter instructed, "We're about to be flanked."****Ruby continues through the building before looking out a window frame with no window, straight at what looked like a cross between a bird and a monkey of some kind, feathers jutting out of various places, and weird double-jointed legs with the first 'knee' going behind it.**

The video paused. "That, is a Skirmisher; an agile but not too strong member of the Covenant," Ruby explained. "In this firefight, you're also introduced to Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. Together they make up the brunt of the forces the Covenant use, but you will meet a few others; Drones, Engineers, Hunters, and..." She looks at Weiss, "Brutes." Said ice queen swallows at the prospect, but looks back nonetheless. "I'll pause and give a proper introduction as they come," Ruby explained as she resumed the feed.

**"Covenant!" Ruby calls out as she headshots the skirmisher with her pistol, she looks out the window to see small creatures with tanks on their back, and hard shell-like skin in various different types of armour.**

"Grunts," Ruby clarifies. "the cannon fodder of the Covenant. Cowardly, sometimes suicidal, and they breathe methane."

"Methane?" Blake asks, confused,

"Yup, it's in the tanks on their backs. I will say though, they look small here, but remember, I was 6'9" here, a grunt is nearly 5 feet."

**She begins to take shots, a Grunt falling with each round, except with the white armoured ones; they take two shots.****"Contact, contact! Spartans, assist!" Carter calls out to his team as Ruby runs towards the stairs. "They're heading into the basement. Move down to the lower levels!"****A high pitched drone begins to sound overhead as Ruby helps Emile to take out the skirmishers in the basement.****"Banshees! Heads up, Charlie One!" The pilot of their Falcon calls out.****The team take out the stragglers, while the Falcon engages the Banshees. Ruby looks out to see a double-pronged Covenant ship, about 30m long come down and hover over a spot across the river.****"Noble Leader, enemy dropships inbound!" June calls to the team.****"Falcon, moving to assist." The pilot notifies everyone, using its heavy gun to take out the recently dropped forces.****Ruby crosses the bridge before taking more shots with her magnum.**

The feed pauses once more as Ruby takes aim at a hand sticking out if a circular bright blue shield, "This is a Jackal, they use shields and the quickest way to take em down is shoot their hand and then their head." Ruby explained to her team, "But they can be snipers, which are a real pain unless you know how to deal with them."

**The feed resumes as eventually, the last enemy falls.****"Stand down, Noble," Carter Calls out to everyone. "stand down. Contacts neutralized."****"Contacts? It's the damn Covenant!" Jorge spits out in anger.****"Cheer up, big man," Emile chuckles, trying to boost the tank's spirit. "this whole valley just turned into a free-fire zone."****"Kat, we've got to warn Holland. I need you at that relay outpost now." Carter commands,****"Boss, I'm showing more activity to the east!" Jun calls out to the team once more.****"Copy that, Jun, we're on it. Red, you've got point."****Ruby tread over the bluff, taking out the Jackals and Grunts, as a tall figure in white armour appeared, it had the same kind of legs as a Skirmisher, with two toes, and a large helmet sticking above its supposed head. **

"Elite, Ultra specifically, different ranks get different armour, each rank getting a stronger energy shield, overall plating, and are not to be underestimated," Ruby told her team.

**Having ran out of ammo, Ruby tossed her pistol aside, picking up a weird one-handed weapon one of the Jackals used, charged it before walking to the Elite as she fired, a blue shield flared and broke as the Elite roared in rage as Ruby switched to her Assault rifle, continuing to fire at the creature, before getting with range to beat it to the ground.****"Commander, I'm seeing more hostile activity to the North-East." Jun scouted out for them.****"Emile, you're with Kat." Carter responded, "Red and I will run interference on the ground. We'll meet you at the outpost."****Ruby got in the driver's seat of a nearby truck as Carter got in the passenger seat and Jorge on the back, resting his Gatling gun on the crossbeam bracing of the cab before they drove off.**

"You know how to drive?" Weiss asked, puzzled.

"Weiss, I'm 21, and have been doing missions since I was 14, of course, I can drive."

**"Get to work, Noble." Carter Commanded. June then called to them over the comms, "Noble Leader, I'm picking up a distress signal." It was patched through as a marine began a distress call.****"Mayday! 3 Charlie Six, does anyone read? We were attacked by Covenant forces. The Covenant is on Reach. I repeat: the Covenant is on Reach."****"The Troopers?" Jorge asked.****"Let's move, Red. We've gotta find the source of that distress call."****"No disrespect," Jun pitched in, "but don't we have better things to do than round up strays?"****"We don't leave people behind. You see those Troopers, you let me know."****They continued to drive as a battalion of Covenant Troops were seen firing on a group of marines. Ruby drove into the battalion, flattening many of the Jackals, Grunts and an Elite that was caught off guard.**

"Was that really necessary?" Weiss asked as Ruby got out of the truck.

Her team leader just shrugged, "Deals with them and doesn't waste ammo, may be brutal but it's certainly useful."

**With the help of the 3 Spartans, the squad of marines dispatch of the remaining forces quickly, and Carter notified the Falcon.****"Transport, LZ is clear. Move in for evac."****"Affirmative. Transport inbound." Jun responded as the Falcons landed and picked up the marines and Spartans before flying off.****"Noble Two, sit-rep," Carter asked, as the Falcon, they were in, closed in on the relay.****"We're at the relay outpost. Door's locked. Mechanism's been flash-fused." Came Kat's reply.****"Can you beat it?"****"I dialed up my torch, cut a way through. Going to take some time."****"Okay, we're en route to your location."****Upon reaching the relay outpost, The feed showed several Covenant forces putting pressure on another small group of marines, along with Kat and Emile.****"Drop us in the courtyard," Carter asked the pilot, as they closed in.****"LZ's a little hot, sir-" The Pilot began before Carter cut him off.****"Put her down, pilot. Red, break's over."****After taking down the forces there, Carter, Ruby and Jorge met up with Kat and Emile at the door.****"How we doing, Kat?" Carter asked.****"Taking a little longer than I hoped, Commander. I've cut about halfway through the door."She replied as more forked dropships appeared over the hill nearby.****"Contact!" Emile exclaimed.****"Hold them off until Kat can hack the controls." Carted instructed, as Ruby took a DMR of the wall and began taking shots at the Grunts and Jackals as they jumped off the dropship.****More dropships came however; this time with Elites, of various classes, one with an arcing projectile at exploded on impact, not doing much damage, but it gave off a white light with every impact, blinding those nearby.****"Kat...?" Carter asked their tech expert, getting worried.****"Just about… there!" She replied. "We're in!"****"Everybody inside! Go, go!"****The team get inside as the door began closing, more dropships appearing in the horizon.****When the door closed, there was a green flash as everything was outlined and appeared clearer in the gloom.****"We need to find the control room." Carter began. "From there, Kat can get the relay back online. Emile, post here. If we flush any hostiles, they're yours. All right, let's do this."**

"What's that green glow on everything?" Yang asked her sister.

"Night vision," She clarified. "We Spartans may have good eyesight, but we can't see in pitch black. This uses wavelengths we can't normally see and tunes it so it appears visible to us."

**They wandered around the corridors until they found the control room, with a dead body of a scientist at the end of the corridor, blood pooling around his body****"Red, search that body."****Ruby approaches the body as Carter checks on a wounded trooper, and Kat checks on the control panel.****"Where's the rest of your unit?" Carter asked as Ruby began feeling the body for anything unusual.****"We got split. I don't think... It sounded bad on the comms."****"All right, Corporal, stay put. We'll get you a combat surgeon."****"Damn. Plasma damage!" Kat calls out, raising her arms in frustration as Ruby checks the front side, a small cartridge falls out of the pocket.****"Found something." Ruby holds up the cartridge to Kat, who snatches it up.****"I'll take that, Six. Not your domain."****"I've got a live one over here!" Jorge called out to the others. "Come on, out you come." Jorge picks up a woman probably in her early 20's, as she begins to yell at the armoured giant in a foreign trying to punch him.****"It's all right, we're not going to hurt you." Jorge tries to calm her down, but she continues her feeble assault.****"Jorge," Carter calls out.****"I've got her." He assures, before lifting her by both arms and setting her down again in front of him.****"Keep still, and I'll release you."****"Még…" She began, "Itt vannak."****He stiffens just as an elegantly armoured Elite jumps down, brandishing an Energy Sword. Jorge barely avoids it while covering the woman. The Elite growls a challenge at the rest of Noble Team and charges, while two more differently armoured Elites jump down.****"What's your status, over?" Emile comes over the Comms, as Ruby begins to fire her assault rifle at the first Elite.****"We've been engaged!" Carter yells, also firing, but he has to duck to avoid a swipe with the sword.****Next, the Elite nearly cuts down Kat, but Carter pushes her out of the way. Ruby maintains a constant fire during this, and the Elite's shield finally collapses, and it knocks her down as he runs out the door.****"Bad guy coming out!" Carter calls as he tries to take it down before it leaves their sight, but it gets away.****One of the others grabs Ruby by the neck and extends a smaller version of the sword, and attempts to bring it down on her, but she punches before he snarled, bearing all four mandibles at her,****"Your a pretty one aren't yah?!" She calls out before punching it off. Carter opens fire, then kicks Ruby's Assault Rifle to him. The other two Zealots head for another door, one holding the shouting Corporal as a shield. Noble Team held their fire. The civilian girl begins screaming while the Zealots head through the door, and the Corporal's screams are heard as he is killed.****"That tango blew past me," Emile calls out as the woman begins to scream and the marine calls out. "permission to pursue?"****"Negative Four, stay on the entrance. Two, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole."****Ruby reloads as she and Jorge head into a room, which he then seals shut behind them. They then quickly clear the room, taking down the Grunts and Jackals. The Elite that was with them, though, made its way down the corridor meeting up with the other.****"There's more. Flush 'em out, I've got you covered." Jorge says as they walked into a room of data banks, a few Grunts around the place, after eliminating them, one of the Elites appeared, brandishing its Energy Sword as it charged at Ruby, roaring in rage at the loss of its troops.****Ruby just fired the DMR she had picked up at the entrance at the Elite's head until it's shield broke, one more shot and it dropped dead, about half a foot out of range of the sword.****She picks it up, igniting the blade before sneaking up on the other Elite, and running it through with the double-pronged plasma blade, it growled in pain before going limp as she shrugged it off the blade, letting the corpse fall to the floor.****"Noble Five reporting. Contacts neutralized." Jorge spoke up as he caught up to Ruby by the Elite's body.****"Kat needs you to reset a junction. Do it and get back up here." Carter responds, thankfully the necessary junction seemed to be right in front of Ruby, she interfaces with it for a little bit, before it flashed green, signalling that it was in working order, and made their way back to the rest of the team.****"How long?" Carter asked the seemingly empty question.****"Question of my life..." Kat mutters. "If the question is when will this station be back online, two weeks, earliest. This is plasma damage. All major uplink components are fried."****"Two minutes is too long." Carter began, leaning over Kat.****"Which is why I'm splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland... You're in my light, Commander." He backed off and looked to Jorge, who was back with the woman.****"Find out what she knows." He gestures to her.****Jorge taps the Girl's shoulder, but she shoves his hand off. Emile chuckles. Looking away for a moment****"What's your name? Do you live around here?" He began, trying to calm the girl, he then tries taking off his helmet, she looks up slightly****"A nevem Jorge." He says, gesturing to himself.****"Sára." Came her mutter of a reply.****"Sára… szép határozott név. Your accent sounds familiar. Sopron?"****"Tengeri."****He looks at the body of the scientist. "Friend of yours?"****"Father."****"Sajnálom. I'm sorry."****"Why would you be?" She almost spat, looking up at him. Ruby looks up to Emile almost needing clarification.****"Big man forgets what he is sometimes." Was his response.****"She just lost her father," Jorge growled as he turns to face Carter. "She needs a full psychiatric workup."****"She's not the only one." Emile chuckles to himself, Jorge glares at the close-quarters Spartan.****"Lock it down, both of you!" Carter snaps, "Get her on her feet… the body stays."****"Thank you, sir."****He walks by Emile and glares at him, then helps Sára get on her feet.****"Signal!" Kat calls out. "It's patchy, but it's there."****"I'll take it," Carter said, taking off his helmet.****"Best not touch anything. You wouldn't want to ground this place." She growls at the commander.****The static of the transmission clears as Holland is heard over the coms, "...I'm barely getting you. What's your situation, over?"****"Colonel, this is Noble One," Carter begins, "There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?"****"Come again, Noble One? Did you say Covenant?"****"Affirmative. It's the WINTER CONTINGENCY."****There was a pause.****"May God help us all."**

The feed paused there as Ruby looked over her teammates, waiting for the obvious questions.

"Winter Contingency?" Weiss asked, a confused expression on her face.

"A protocol set up for when a major colony world is discovered or invaded by The Covenant; all forces are set up on a counter operation to try and quell the invasion."

"What were Sára and Jorge speaking?" Blake asked.

"Hungarian. I don't know too much, but I believe it was something along the lines of 'my name is Jorge.' and 'You're quite strong.'

"And why are they leaving the body? Shouldn't they give him a decent burial?" Yang asked her sister.

"Well, when you're busy fighting off aliens, evacuating civilians is hard enough, imagine trying to fight while carrying a dead body. Unfortunately, with war, that's just how it works. If the body is not in the way, it's left. Names will be imprinted on a memorial though. Anything else?"

"When did this happen?" It was Blake who asked, to which Ruby stated,

"About 4 months ago, the whole fall takes about a month, and I spent about another week wandering the planet after it's glassing, and then found a facility that brought me here."


	2. Chapter 2: SWORDBASE

**The feed fast-forwarded to a point where Ruby was in another Falcon with Carter and Kat, overlooking the horizon where one of Reach's moons was visible, a huge orb just clearing the horizon.**

"It's beautiful…" Blake murmured, fascinated by the appearance of the moon.

"Yeah, wait 'till you see it from space." Ruby chuckled to her team.

"You go into space?!" Weiss asks, alarmed.

"You know how I said that my armour can survive falling from orbit?" They nodded, "It's because I've tried it, and you kinda need to get up there to fall back down."

"You say 'orbit' like it's a set height, how high is it?" Ruby makes a grimacing sort of smile before continuing,

"Well… it's not a specific height, but an orbit is when something goes round a stellar object fast enough that when it falls back down, it misses the object." This just brought confused looks to her teammates. "Okay here, you know how the moon stays in the sky?" She begins to sketch out on the screen display on the wall, drawing two circles.

"Remnant always exerts a gravitational force on the moon," she drew an arrow from one circle to the other, "But the moon has a constant momentum going outward. Another arrow facing at a right angle to the first, "Gravity acts like a string, pulling the moon so it doesn't just fly into space, but it wants to keep moving so instead, it goes around." This time a curved arrow from the moon, back around to the other side.

"This is an orbit, and for artificial satellites like ships or space stations, around a planet of approximately this mass would be anywhere from just under 200 km up, to about 36000 km up. I probably went up only about 200 km, but it was a long fall. But you'll see that later." She dismissed he astonished looks of her teammates and turned back to the black box data,

**Ruby turns from the view to see kat slipping the chip they got from the scientist into a data pad and typing something. A voice is heard over the comms of the team.****"Be advised, kilo-three and kilo-three-four, your current LZ is too hot."****"Roger that." Carter affirms, "Dot, standby to receive and respond."****The Falcons pass a large island, just as a large ship over the bay, with an ornate design, comes into view.****"A Covenant corvette, about a km long, though aren't shielded." Ruby clarifies.****"Yes, Commander…" A distinctly robotic voice goes over the coms. "Coordinates received. Initiate immediate course correction.****The Office of Naval Intelligence Sword Base is presently under siege from a corvette-class Covenant vessel. Due to the sensitive nature of this facility, the use of orbital rounds has been, for the moment, prohibited. Regrettably, my efforts to obtain relevant data on enemy forces have been unsuccessful. However, current defensive forces are insufficient. ONI has requested Team Noble's direct intervention to help secure Sword Base."****"Alright people," Carter begins, addressing the pair of Falcons. "we're stuck with that ship for the time being. Let's focus on the hostile infantry - give those troopers a hand."****They fly over the courtyard, numerous covenant troops are seen engaging the Marines, trying to protect the facility.****"Kat, Six - you're out here." Carter began distributing his orders. "Jorge, Emile - you're next, get prepped."****"Let's move, Red," Kat called****"Right behind ya, Kattie!" Ruby retorted.****The Falcon lowers close to the ground, as the two Spartans jump out.****"I'm surprised you still remember that name." Kat chuckled.****"Hey, why do you think I'm still Red?"****"Kat, Red: stop the chit-chat." Carter called over the comms, "Hurry up and push back the attack on Sword Base, find out what we're dealing with."****"Roger that, we're your strike team," Kat replied.**

"Kat was the one who came up with the nickname 'Red'. We trained in the same company, and I had a habit of sneaking into our superior officer's office to get back the red hair dye they called 'contraband,' but I insisted on wearing in my highlights." She chuckled a bit before continuing,

"Got me into quite a bit of trouble on more than one occasion before they gave up trying to police it."

"Of course..." Weiss sighed

**Ruby and Kat cleared the courtyard with the help of the Marines stationed there quite swiftly. The Jackals, Grunts and Skirmishers falling with ease; Elites taking a little longer but they were eventually dealt with too.****"Noble Two to Sword Control: courtyard is clear, over," Kat reported, as they reloaded at the ammo creates near the East Gate.****"Head through the main gate to the east, I'll brief you as you go," Control ordered.****"Sword Control, I see a Target Locator. Any artillery support in the area?" Kat said as Ruby picked up the small device, looking like a laser pointer with a handle.****"Limited, but we'll prioritize whatever you need, ma'am." Was the response. **

Ruby remembered thinking as they opened the gate to the opposing forces to yell, Get the Hell Off My Lawn!' She didn't of course, but it was still there.

**As they open the gate, they could see the Corvette opening fire on the base. A Warthog is trying to evade two hovering artillery tanks.****"3 Echo 57 heading back to base, but we got enemy tangos on our six. How copy?" A Captain of a transport ship says over the comms.****The Warthog is soon destroyed by one of the tanks.****"A little help getting rid of those Wraiths Spartans?" one of the Marines asked, as the now identified tanks float around the rocks. Using the Target Locator, Ruby calls in artillery support wiping out both Wraiths with one shot.****The Marines whoop in victory as a more armoured version of a Falcon drops off another Warthog.****"Nice shot, Red." Kat acknowledges as they climb into the vehicle, Ruby at the wheel once again.****"The old Farragut Station has its own comms array that should bring back online with command," Control says, clearly giving new objectives. "Airview Base has an anti-air battery that will help clear the skies."****"AA gun is to the west, comms array to the east. Let's roll." Kat supplies as Ruby heads west,****"We'll get the guns online before more reinforcements arrive, then."****"Sure, let's go for the gun."****After heading further west, they are engaged by several Elites, Jackals, Grunts and Skirmishers, though with the help of the chaingun on the back, all are swiftly dealt with.****"I'm picking up a power source, we're close to the AA gun." Kat notifies Ruby.****When they arrive at the base, they find it swarmed by covenant troops****"Contacts!" The lone trooper with them calls out,****"That's the gun over there. Should be a reset control somewhere, get it online." Kat confirms.****After eliminating the Covenant in the area, Ruby heads into the two-floored building next to the AA gun, she finds the reset control on the roof of the building, and activates it. The AA gun immediately pivots round and opens fire on the Banshees and Covenant dropships around the Corvette.****"That did it, Red. AA gun is online."****"Nice work, Spartans." Control congratulates them. "Get to Farragut Station and get that comms array up and running."****Another of the birds that dropped of the first Warthog delivers another, but with a different gun on the mount, looking more like a large rifle of some kind, facing the direction of the station.**

"Okay, the bird is a Pelican, should have probably mentioned that earlier, and the gun on that 'hog is a Gauss Cannon, basically a mounted coilgun, working in a similar way as to a MAC gun, which you will see later, and get more info when the time comes."

"If that's the case, why not mount them on all of the Warthogs?" Weiss asks,

"Same reason why not every Spartan III had MJOLNIR, it's pretty expensive."

**"Spartans, this is Sword Control. Thought you could use some mobile firepower." Came the voice over the comms.****"All right, take that 'hog Red.****The Spartans head toward the comms array, encountering various Covenant troops, all quickly dispatched, but not before the Warthog takes some heavy hits from grenades and a green cannon.****Eventually, the Spartans arrive at the station.****"Hope that comms array has a working generator," Kat muttered.****The station was also occupied by Covenant troops, including what looked like a smaller version of a Wraith, which fires a shot Kat and Ruby just manage to dive out of the way before it hits the 'hog, blowing it up.****In retaliation, Ruby uses her semblance to appear right beside the Elite driving the mini-Wraith.****"Hi there." Was all that she said, before pulling it out of the vehicle, climbing in herself, and running it over. She used the gun to take out the remaining forces swiftly. Kat just looks at her.****"What?" Ruby asks, pretending to be oblivious to what she was meaning. Kat just shook her head,****"You never change do you?"****"Nope!"****"Let's just search the area for a generator switch."****After a quick search of the buildings, they find the switch, and activate the generator.****"Okay, generator is up and running. Find that comms array, should be up high." Kat instructs Ruby, who soon finds the comms array in an adjacent building and activates it.****"Noble Strike, this is Noble Leader. Get back to Sword Base ASAP." Carter calls over the comms.****"On our way, Commander. Let's go, Red."****"Good work, Spartans. Return to Sword Base, the rest of your team is inbound, imminent." Control thanks them again, as Carter broadcasts another message.****"Noble, be advised: Covenant Corvette moving into position. Kat, Red, get here quick. We need you inside."****The Spartans use the mini-Wraith to get back to the gate, to find it under attack by several Covenant forces, including more mini-Wraiths. Ruby gets the target locator out again, and uses it to destroy the opposing vehicles, before Control said they couldn't provide any more air support, so she tossed it aside.**

"Why do you keep doing that?" Weiss asks, staring at her partner, "It's so wasteful,"

"No point keeping a weapon when it's out of ammo, you can always find more on the battlefield, from allies or enemies." was Ruby's response. "But I might make something with those scythe blueprints I got earlier, like your weapons."

**"We're stalled in the tower atrium, Kat. Where are you?" Jun calls over the comms as they approach the gates.****"Opening the gate now."****Once inside, Kat and Ruby head back up the courtyard, which is once again occupied by the Covenant, momentarily.****They find a few troopers under attack from more Covenant troops, including a pair of monstrous creatures with thick armour plates and a huge cannon on its right arm.**

"Hunters, Each standing at about 25 ft tall, can survive a hell of a lot of firepower, unless you know where to hit, and always come in pairs." Ruby begins to explain, "The funny thing about them is they are made up of worms, each about a meter in length, but only an inch in diameter, lekgolo, I believe they're name is."

**Ruby uses her DMR to take out the other troops, before grabbing a shotgun from a nearby rack, and using her semblance to get behind the hunters, and blasting into their exposed back, they growl in pain as they try to hit her, thrashing back and forth, but each time, she just eases out of the way with her semblance.****Eventually, the behemoths fall, as Kat comes out from behind a pillar.****"I'll let you take on the hunters from now on then." She joked, Ruby shrugged,****"Simple enough when you know how,"****"And you have superpowers," she retorted.****"Touchè."****"Let's get to the atrium, we have to go through the security office, the elevator, take it."****Once in, Ruby activates the elevator to take them to the security office. Midway up, an explosion rocks the elevator.****"Corvette's hitting this base hard," Emile explains over the comms.****"Where's our orbital support?" Kat asks, almost impatiently, "Got to be four platforms that could take it out with a single MAC round."****The elevator soon reaches the security office, and as it opens Kat and Ruby are immediately engaged by Covenant forces.****A robotic voice is announced as they step out, "WELCOME TO THE OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. AN ONI REPRESENTATIVE WILL MEET YOU SHORTLY."****"I doubt that very much." Kat jokes as they push forward.****"THANK YOU, LIEUTENANT. YOU HAVE BEEN CLEARED FOR ACCESS." The voice continues as they proceed into the next room, a large, open area with many flights of stairs and ramps leading across to either side, Jorge, Jun and Carter are assisting the Marines in clearing the Covenant forces.****"Hold it, everybody move up!" Jorge called out to them.****"Red, head upstairs and assist Emile. Jorge, make sure she gets there." Carter issues to the team.****"On it sir!" Ruby called out as she drove her knife through a Grunt's head.****"Depend on it." Was Jorge's response.****They make their way up, taking down various squadrons of Covenant, Elites, Jackals, Skirmishers, all falling easily to the hands of the two Spartans.****"Corvette's gonna rip this base apart. What's the situation, Noble?" Control calls out as Ruby assassinates a careless Elite.****"Can't do this on my own!" Emile calls, "Need another Spartan up here!"****"Red, get to the top floor and assist Emile."****"Almost there!"****As they reach the top floor, they see it is torn open by an explosion, various debris are strewn around the place, and the Corvette is visible in the sky.****"Commander, this base won't survive another salvo from that corvette. Kill those Banshees!" Control reports desperately.****"I'm on it," Ruby called out, before aiming at a seemingly empty space.**

"Why are you doing that?" Weiss asks, "There's nothing there."

**She fires as the shield of an Elite flairs up, making it visible, she fires, breaking it, and one more drops it to the ground.**

"That's why," Ruby says, "Active Camouflaged Elites, she rewinds the feed abit to just before she raised her gun.

"See that small shimmer there?" She pointed to it, "That's all you can see of them, if they stay still, it's near impossible to tell where they are."

**She drops the Elite once more as Emile is seen taking out another.****"About time." He huffed,****"Hey, better late than never," Ruby says as she picks up a Rocket launcher, taking aim at the Banshees and the large dome-like ship before each up.****"Yeah, clear. That's the way we get it done, Spartan!" Emile cheers her on, "We're clear."****"Noble Team, Longswords are inbound and ready to push. Orbital defense is standing by to take the shot." Command announces as two thin fighters fly towards the Corvette, which starts to flee, it is tailed by the Longswords for a short while before they retreat as a thing goes straight through the Corvette and into the lake beneath it. The ship plummets to follow the shot. **

"That, was a MAC round," Ruby says pausing it there, a she gives her explanation.

"A MAC, or Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, is probably the most destructive projectile based weapon we have, the one used there, is a Super MAC, which is the most powerful, potentially slinging a 3,000 metric ton round of Tungsten, at 4% the speed of light, or about 12,000 km a second, or approximately 5.155 Gigatons of TNT."

"And this is a figure we should recognise how?" Weiss asked,

"Well, 1 Megaton could wipe out Vale, and that can potentially fire 5,000 times more powerful shots."

the jaws dropped on WBY,

"5 thousand times more powerful?! And you were losing?!"

"Well, if you take into account that they have to be precisely fired at their targets, and take a hell of a lot of material for 1 shot, you get the reason why they aren't used so often."

**"Beautiful, ain't it," Jorge calls as they watch the wreckage sink into the lake. "Someone should take a picture. Nice work, by the way."****Ruby shrugs before replying "I aim to please."****The moment is interrupted by their commander over the comms. "Five, Six... Get down to the science wing, Doctor Halsey wants a debrief, and Command's saying we're all hers."****"Repeat? Sounded like you said Halsey." Jorge asks, puzzled for a moment.****"I did."****"Copy that, on our way." he looks to Ruby as they set off down the stairs, "Don't need Command to tell me... Been all hers half my life."****They soon arrive at the science wing, where Carter is talking a middle-aged looking woman, with short grey hair, and a thick coat, standing behind a large glass pane.****"I requested your assistance, Commander," She began, "And do not need reports on events that occur on my own doorstep. What I do require is a detailed account of your previous engagement-"****she cuts herself off as she peers round Carter to Jorge.****"Jorge. It's been too long."****he takes off his helmet.****"Ma'am."****"What have you done with my armour?"****Jorge and Ruby look at his armour, trying to figure out what she was talking about.****"Just some...additions I've made," he replied, nervously.****"Indeed," she returned her attention to Carter, "Visegrad Relay. Its data center was home to one of my xeno-archaeologists, Professor Laszlo Sorvad. Perhaps you could shed some light on his death."****"If he was a civilian male in his mid-sixties, he died with a Covenant Energy Sword through his abdomen," Carter replied****"Elites, then."****"They engaged us as well." Jorge supplied, "It was just, uh, just after we found your scientist's daughter, ma'am. She was hiding in the-"****"Irrelevant. The Elites. Tell me more about them."****"Three. Zealot class. One got by us. The leader, from the looks of him."****"Zealots. You're certain?"****"Their armour configuration matched."****"Shield strength, too." Ruby cut in.****"I gave the order not to pursue." Carter explained, "Our primary objective was to get the station's relay back online."****"Your primary objective? Commander, are you a puppet or a Spartan?"****Emile and Jun look up at the scientist,****"Ma'am?" Carter was clearly confused,****"There are those at ONI, myself included, who believe the Covenant dispatch Elite advance teams to hunt down artifacts of value to their religion." She explained, "Survivor accounts suggest such teams are small, nimble, and almost always Zealot-class. No doubt they came to the station for the abundance of ONI excavation data stored there. And you let them get away".****"Data retrieval was not a command directive. Even had we known, we had other, more urgent matters to attend to." He reasoned.****"Like warning the planet," Kat muttered.****There was an uneasy pause before Halsey continued.****"Professor Sorvad's final entry in his field notes made reference to "a latchkey discovery". Latchkey... Not a word he would use lightly. So let's hope that the data module your Lieutenant Commander stole contains it."****"Kat?" He looked at his second, surprise on his face, as she walked over and put the chip Ruby found into the transfer box in the glass.****"Before you ask, I was alerted the moment you attempted to access its contents. As I am with any unauthorized tap."****Halsey picked it up and began examining it.****"That data is classified Tier One... I could send you to the brig for interfering with my work."****"Maybe you'd like to join her." Carter began,****"...I'm sorry?" She questioned, shocked.****"We're currently under emergency planetary directive, WINTER CONTINGENCY. I'm sure you're familiar with the punishment for civilian interference with a Spartan deployment."****"Are you threatening me, Commander?"****"Just making a reading suggestion, ma'am." He put on his helmet and began walking to the exit with Kat, while Halsey re-examines the data module.****"Let's move, Noble Team." The Commander called out to his team, Ruby started to leave, but paused as she saw Jorge was hanging back.****"Ma'am?"****She didn't look up from the module as she said, "That... will be all, Jorge."**

"Ok, what?!" Weiss called out as soon as the feed paused. "What kind of sick…" she fumbled as she tried to find the words, "Moron," was the best she could come up with, "Would disregard her partner's family like that?!"

"You're really asking that about a person who kidnapped 75 kids, indoctrinated them, and biologically augmented them into becoming the most efficient killing machines, known to man?" Ruby retorted, which caused Weiss to sit back down.

"Halsey is someone… the UNSC would rather not have to depend on, but with the Covenant being more technologically advanced than we've ever been, they have no choice. There's a reason why they call ONI members spooks."

"Ok, why was Jorge, of all people nervous of her, from what we've seen so far, he isn't afraid of anything?" Blake asks, turning to Ruby,

"Like I said earlier, He's a Spartan II, as grim as it sounds, they were practically raised by her. So it's sort of a parental fear, like your mom is angry at you because you stole the cookies."

"Jeez…" Yang murmured. "Talk about having a presence."

\--

**OK! got a new chapter out relatively quickly! yay me, Thanks for all the support everyone, and just to put the 5.115 Gigatons into perspective for everyone here, the total atomic yield for every nuke on earth rn is estimated at about 1.4 Gigatons, so yeah, the big stick is quite powerful. Next chapter may not be out as quick as this one, so don't get your hopes up for a consistent update time, sorry.**


	3. Chapter 3: Nightfall

**The feed resumes as Ruby is looking at the moons of Reach, their mystical glow always surrounding them. A Phantom passes overhead, searchlight sweeping the valley. Jun, just ahead of her, motions his head to get Ruby to come after him before jumping over a rock.**

**"Recon Team Bravo reporting: Three and Six in position. It's starting to get crowded up here, Kat." He explains over the comms.**

**"Then we're closing in. Report any Covenant structures or devices. Direct action may be necessary." Kat directs.**

**"Copy that." He chuckles a bit, "When Kat runs an op, direct action is always necessary."**

**"You got that right." Ruby agreed.**

**He handed her a magazine of ammo, "Here. You may need these. High-velocity, armor-piercing. They'll take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards. And they ain't cheap."**

**"Well, you sure know how to treat a girl."**

**Jun does a double take at her remark, but just shakes his head, as he climbs a boulder. "I'm starting to see why Kat likes you so much, I'll be in touch."**

**Ruby then slides down the cliff, landing quietly on a plateau below.**

**"Recon Bravo, the sector ahead is dark to electronic surveillance." Kat warns the duo.**

**"Covenant can block our instruments?" Jun questions.**

**"So it would seem, and Command wants to know what they're hiding."**

**Ruby makes her way up the mound nearby, seeing an Elite facing away from her.**

**"Elite, he's yours. Do it quiet." Jun says.**

**She slowly makes her way behind it, before jumping up it's back and burying her knife into its skull. It starts to cry out, but dies before it can do anything, collapsing to the ground where Ruby drags the body away.**

**"Not bad. How many times have you done this?" Jun questions**

**She then spots a few Grunts sleeping nearby, swiftly dealing with them as well,**

**"Once or twice." she offers, taking out the rifle and dropping the Elite on the ground below her, before the others could notice, then using her semblance to switch positions quickly, drawing her pistol to shoot the Grunts and Jackals.**

**"Indeed." He says as she jumps down and finds a armour module, taking it before putting it on her suit.**

**"Found some active camo, be useful coming up." Jun had caught up to her and nodded before they both moved up. They found a rock with a dead trooper by ut with more ammo for the pistol and a medkit.**

**"Recon Bravo to Noble Two, stand by for contact report." Jun said over the comms, as they overlooked the bluff they were standing on, a small village was swarmed with Covenant troops.**

**"Standing by to copy, over."**

**"We have eyes on multiple hostiles patrolling a settlement. This what we're looking for, Kat?"**

**"Negative, too small, you're not in the dark zone yet. Engage at your own discretion, but keep moving."**

**"You heard her, Six. Drop those tangoes."**

**The Elites that Ruby could see were quickly dropped, before a beam of plasma brought her focus away from them.**

**"Tch!" she called out, hiding behind the rock, "Camoed focus rifles." She explained, activating her own camo and looking towards where the beam came from.**

**She saw the shimmer and in the next moment it was a corpse in the ground, another beam fired in her general direction, but missed, and it was soon dead too.**

**"Incoming. Looks like we really pissed them off." Jun warned as a Phantom was seen inbound**

**"Got yah," Ruby affirmed, before dropping the Elites that came out. With the command gone from the troops, the grunts were running scared, many taking out grenades out of fear and running in random directions until they blew up, thereby taking out most of the rest of the forces, only a few jackals managed to escape unscathed, until they got a 14.5mm bullet going at almost mach 3 through the brain.**

**That dealt with, the two Spartans made their way down, following a path they saw, Ruby using her semblance to swiftly deal with the Jackals they came across.**

**Progressing, the recon duo come across a clearing with two massive tusked creatures. They had long curved claws, were about 30 ft tall, and in the process of attacking a small squadron of Covenant.**

**"Look at that!" Jun called out, as the Grunts ran screaming as the behemoths smooshed them into the ground.**

"What on Remnant is that?!" Weiss exclaimed standing up, and eyeing Ruby with a mixture of confusion and terror,

"Just keep watching," Ruby assured.

**As the beasts finished toying with the Covenant infantry, they turned towards the Spartans before roaring and charging upon them,**

**"Major enemy, incoming." Jun notified over the coms**

**The creatures take multiple sniper rounds from Jun, as Ruby used her semblance to land on one of the creature's heads and sniping it at point blank range as it tried to throw her off. It fell quickly as Jun finished the other one.**

**"Kat, pick any of that up?" he asked, shaking his head at Ruby again.**

**"Affirmative, Recon Bravo. It's an indigenous creature called Gúta."**

**They walk through the clearing as Jun sees a small gap in the cliffedge surrounding them."Red, there's a trail up ahead through the rocks. Let's take it."**

**"Got ya,"**

**The pair made their way along the trail, encountering the ostrich-like birds they met earlier, as gunfire reached their ears.**

**"Gunfire. Magnums, security sidearms. Standard issue." Jun relsied, as they continued forward.The trail opened up to a pumping station. A bunch of farmers could be seen under attack by Covenant forces.**

**"Noble Two, that's some sort of pump station. Got eyes on civilians, I'm thinking more local militia, they've engaged hostiles." Jun reported to Kat,**

**"Move to assist. They may have intel we need."**

**"You heard her, Six. Keep those civilians alive."**

**Ruby saw a sniper on a small bluff, and went to it to get more ammo before taking aim. The Elites fighting the militia fell to the ground, followed by the Skirmishers shortly after.**

**As Jun approached the Militia connected to their comms, and she heard one say,**

**"Give us a hand! Bastards just keep comin'."**

**The remaining forces were quickly eliminated, as Ruby met up with the group in the central area of the pump station, where she saw some cases of UNSC weapons.**

**"Little more action than we're used to. You Spartans are good in a fight." one of the troopers said,**

**"W****hat are you doing here? Whole area's supposed to be evacuated." Jun questioned, as Ruby opened a case, another rifle with a DMR was in the case.**

**"Didn't like leaving it to someone else to protect our home. So we came back, for this. We have 'em hidden all over the territory."**

**The remaining briefcases open to show an assortment of other UNSC weapons**.

**You know this stuff is stolen." Ruby said, turning to them**.

**"What? You gonna arrest me?"**

**"No. Gonna steal it back." Jun said playfully,**

**A Phantom engine roared as the group whip round to see it, before getting into defensive positions.**

**The incoming Covenant were quickly dispatched, but as they were just being eliminated, two more phantoms showed up, replenishing their numbers.**

**"We've got company." Jun warned**,

**"You weren't wrong, they do just keep coming." Ruby huffed, sniping a Jackal mid-air. After they finally took the reinforcements down, Jun turned to Ruby and shrugged,**

**"Nothing here but that lake."**

**"Road leads to a hydroelectric plant, but the gate doesn't work." a trooper announced, listening in on them, Jun turned to face the man,**

**"Alternate route?"**

**"We use the riverbed to smuggle rations, weapons..."**

**"Basically anything the UNSC considers contraband, then." Ruby said, finishing his sentence for him.**

**"Basically."**

**"Show us." Jun commanded.****They led them to a dried up riverbed between the cliffs, Ruby and Jun took point as the troopers followed behind.**

**"Where does this riverbed lead?" Jun asked, as they walked along the now path through the cliffs.**

**"Straight to the hydro plant." one of them responded, "We dammed this river up forty-five years ago, plant powers every settlement in the territory. Shame if it all gets wasted."**

**"We're doing what we can." Ruby assured them**.

**A Phantom could be heard, and everyone fell to the cliffside.****"Hold up. Covie dropship, take cover." Jun gave, the pretty much needless order, but no-one questioned him.****The Phantom passes them by, after taking a moment to survey the area.**

**"Okay, clear. Let's move."**

**They continue on, eventually reaching the plant, which is swarmed with Covenant, and an articulate structure, near the cliffside the plant was on.**

"What is that thing?" Weiss asked, looking at the tower-like structure,

"Cloaking pilon," Ruby replied, "Blocks transmissions from satellites and most radio frequencies."

**"Kat, are you seeing this? Covenant structure, kind of a big pylon. Heavily fortified." Jun said, as Ruby looked through the scope of her rifle, ready to drop the Elites at the word.**

**"That's the source of our dark zone."**

**"Ok, consider it gone."**

**"Negative, stick a remote det charge on it. Command's planning something big, they say that pylon dies at dawn."**

**"We gonna blow it?" a trooper asked, as they hid behind some rocks**,

**"We're gonna clear the area, and I'm gonna plant a remote det charge. You want to provide some cover, go right ahead.**

**As this was said, the Elite Ruby was scoping at fell to the ground, and the one next to it, and so on, it was at this point the rest of the Covenant troops caught wind of their location and started firing on them. The militia troopers began to retaliate, taking out the Jackals and Grunts, trying to make their way across the bridge towards the** **plion.**

**Shortly after, they gave the all clear and Ruby heard a "Hey" from the pilon.**

**"This is gonna take a minute, keep your eyes peeled." Jun said, going to plant the charge,**

**"I knew you trusted me," She mocked as she went up to get a better vantage point.****Two Phantoms appeared over the hill and began firing their turrets at the troopers, who with little time to react, were unfortunately slain.**

**"Recon Bravo to Noble two." Ruby began grimly as she took out the turrets. "Civvies are down."**

"How are you that desensitised to death?" Blake asked, a little worry creeping into her voice, Ruby just shrugged.

"I stared death in the face on a daily basis, it doesn't get any less grim, but he loses his power over you after a while. When you're in the heat of a firefight, can't let the death of your comrades get to you, makes you lose focus."

The rest of the team felt a shiver run down their spine at that.

**The Phantoms dropped two Hunters, and as Ruby watched two mirages that were quickly realised as Spec-op Elites which were dead before they hit the ground.**

**"Need a little help down here…" Jun called out, as the growls of the Hunters could be heard below.**

**"Got it." Ruby replied, picking up 2 grenades from an ammo rack near her. **

"What are you going to do with those?" Yang asked, getting curious.

"Just watch…" Was Ruby's reply.

**A burst of petals and she was facing the hunters, which now gave her undivided attention. They charged up their canons and fired at her, but she dodged swiftly, going behind them and taking a pin out of the first grenade and jamming it into the body of worms, it caused the hivemind to stand up straight, and go to slam her into the ground, but before it could do anything, she was behind it's brother. Another well-placed grenade, and she appeared beside Jun, who turned round just to see the two hunters explode in a tidal wave of orange blood and worm parts.**

**"Really?" Jun asked, shaking the chunks of worm off his gun,**

**"Really." Ruby replied, as happy as a schoolgirl who just got a pony.**

"Why…?" Weiss asked.

"Duh.." Yang answered for her sister, "Because it's freaking awesome!"

"You've got to admit it's effective though," Ruby reasoned, after giving her sister a high-five.

"But it gets everywhere!" the heiress protested, "Not to mention down-right gross."

"Oh calm down, a good pressure wash and it's fine."

**Jun sighed before reporting, "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, charge placed."**

**"Somewhere inconspicuous, I hope."**

**"Stuck it inside the pylon's power supply."**

**"Alright. Keep pushing into the dark zone. Command wants to know what the Covenant are hiding."**

**"There's a gate to the southeast of the power plant." Ruby spotted**

**"Copy. Uploading security codes to you now."**

**"Okay, got 'em. Unlocking the gate."**

**"Recon Bravo, you're heading into the dark zone now."**

**"Understood."****The Spartans head through the gate, coming into contact with Covenant immediately, they were killed before they even realised what was going on.**

**The duo advanced further, engaging more Covenant troops and a spherical turret, rotating it a 360 ark.**

**"Shade!" Jun called out, but it jerked away from them as Ruby had sniped the gunner before he could notice,**

**"Easy," Ruby scoffed.**

**They advanced further, as many Banshees passed by overhead, though they ignored the Spartans.**

**"Lotta air traffic around here, Red. I think we're getting warm."**

**They advanced further, Ruby picking off the Shade turrets first, and then the infantry. The remaining troops gather around a hole in the cliffs and they could see a purple mass behind them.**

**"Noble Two, we have eyes on at least one Covenant ship."** **Jun notified**

**"Solid copy. Don't stop now."**

**They eliminated the hostiles and pushed forward, reaching the gap that was trying to be fortified, they get down, crawl forward to reveal a large area, glowing with red and purple lights, massive guns pointing towards the sky, and many corvettes and even bigger ships on standby about the place.**

"Gods…" Blake breathed.

"What are those?"

"Covenant carriers, each about a kilometer in length, can take a 20 megaton nuke to the face and not be fazed, so yeah. Take up most of the Covenant fleets, and not to be trifled with. First mission of the Spartan IIs against the Covenant was to take just one down, and even then there was a casualty, yes, they may have not had shields on their armour then, but still, they were made to be invincible, and first mission, one dies."

Weiss paled as Ruby just gestured to the to the feed again.

**"Jackpot." Jun muttered.****"Transmitting visual." Ruby announced, "You seeing this, Katty?"**

**"Confirmed." Kat replied, "Receiving Noble Three and Noble Six's live visual of a Covenant strike force."**

**"That's no strike force, it's an invading army." Jun corrected, "If we're gonna smother this thing, we need to go in hard and fast."**

**"Agreed. All recon teams disengage and fall back. Sun will be up in a few hours… and it's going to be a very busy day."**

"Soo… you go up against that?"

Weiss asks, to which Ruby nodded.

"And it was a success?"

She waved her hand in a 'maybe' fashion, "Depending on which way you look at it, yeah, it was."

"What do you mean, 'depending on which way you look at it.' either you won or lost."

"You seriously think war is that black and white?" Ruby laughed

"Well from the reports Winter sends me-"

"Ok, yeah, sure, let's go with the Atlas specialist who, let's be realistic here, has probably a few hours of firefighting experience, over someone who has done this for over half my life."

"But-"

"I'll not completely drive your sister into the dirt Weiss, but there's two major problems with your assumption; 1 Winter's reports to you will be the simple ones, so you don't worry what she is up against, and 2 I could floor her in a 1 on 1 and you know that. I may have not had the extensive training the II's had, but when it comes to military strategy, I know it can take centuries to fully analyse the strategic value of some battles, even if it was to the side that lost, not everything is a clear win/lose scenario, yes Reach fell, but as you will see soon enough, we may have the turning point of the war on our hands now. So yes, depending on which way you look at it, the next mission was a success and a fail."

Weiss sat quietly as the feed fast forwarded to the next point of intrest.


	4. Chapter 4: Tip of the Spear

Ok! So this was long overdue. Life has a habbit of getting in the way like that, exams, work experience, preping the hose for moving, etc, and im sad to say that there will probably be another gap between now and the next update, I have alot going on here and barely had the time to work on this, so enjoy it while its here, ill try to get another chapter out by the end of the month, no promises though.

edit: don't know why this disappeared, but have a double bill then, more notes in the new chapter.

\--

**The shot is of Ruby sitting in a Warthog, driving in front of an army of them, all going top speed as Kat drove over a dusty plain. Auntie Dot's voice could be heard as they drove onwards.****"It appears that Noble Team's discovery last night was not an anomaly. Large Covenant deployments have occurred undetected, and we are now under attack across the Viery territory, including orbital defences. As per the Winter Contingency, we are countering on every front. Noble's reconnaissance has also identified sophisticated Covenant army hiding canopies, and has been pointed what appears to be a landing zone for additional Covenant forces, the origin of which is yet to be determined."****Ruby looks up to a pair of falcons following them, and sees Carter sitting with Emile and Jun.****"That landing zone has been tagged by UNSC command as a Priority One target." Carter ordered the strike force, as Jun added cheerfully,****"Det-charge link is loud and clear!"****"Copy that." Kat affirms, holding up a detonator in 1 hand, "Acquiring signal lock on the pylon. Detonating in three, two..."****She detonates the charge that was planted on the pylon as they drove by, exploding in a wave of purple flame and rubble. As this happens, about a dozen banshees appear out of nowhere and start raining plasma shots on the advancing Warthogs.****The gunners on the Warthogs retaliate, chain guns, barking at the Banshees. As Wraith mortar rounds could be seen flying overhead, landing on a few of the cars and blowing them into smithereens. Kat barely manages to swerve out of the way of some mortar rounds,****"Careful!" Ruby calls out to her driver.****"You try driving with one arm!" She quips back,****"I thought you said it wouldn't be a liability!"****"Oh shut up!"****She dodges another round and turns towards a bridge across a deep chasm, but as they prepare to cross, a mortar round destroys the bridge.****"Incoming!" Ruby calls out, grabbing onto the frame.****"Might want to hold onto something!" Kat yells to their gunner. She accelerates and goes to jump the gap, barely making it, and causing it to flip and eject all of its passengers before it exploded a few feet in front of them.**"Yeah… Kat's a bad driver." Ruby admitted.

**After the dust settles, Ruby is lying her stomach with a grenade launcher in front of her, she slowly gets herself up, looking towards the bridge to see another warthog try and cross the gap, only to fall short and fall down the canyon. Kat's voice came through her helmet.****"Red! Get up, can you hear me? You alright? I could use some help."****Ruby shook her head as she got up, grabbing the grenade launcher, and firing towards a collection of grunts as soon as she came to her senses,****"Next time, I'm driving!" She growled at Kat,****"Oh, shut up, we survived didn't we?"****Carter came over the comms before Ruby could retort, "Kat, Red, what's your status?"****"Pylons are down, we're pushing up the hill." She responded as they eliminated the squats nearby,****"Fuel rod Shade!" Kat called out, ducking behind a rock to seek cover for the artillery rounds.****"Got it," Ruby replied calmly, switching to a DMR, and dropping the gunner in 1 shot.****Another to its left began raining fire on them, forcing Ruby to dodge to the side, before snapping back up and eliminating it, and all potential backup pilots.****Once the area was secure, a Pelican dropped off a warthog, as Carter gave out orders.****"Kat, be advised: ONI has identified 2 hostile anti-aircraft guns southwest of your location."****"Copy, Commander. New target, Red. Shut down those AA guns."****"Why do I specifically have to do everything eh?" Ruby called out as she got in the passenger seat.****"You're the newbie." Came Kats reply.****"You've seen my file, I'm far from a greenhorn."****"That too, you have more experience doing this kind of thing solo."****Ruby grumbled as they drove to the first AA gun.**

"I mean, she's got you there." Yang chuckled to her sister

"Yeah, Yeah, shaddup." came Ruby's less than snarky reply.

**"Six, AA guns should be in visual range," Carter called out,****"See 'em," Ruby called out as the huge covenant AA gun came into view, looking like a fortress with a huge gun mounted on top, firing plasma rounds into the sky.****At that moment another voice came over the comms,****"2 Lima 4 to Noble One, those guns are pounding us with high-velocity plasma-shells!" The man yelled in a seemingly calm voice.****"Which would mean a strike by the Frigate Grafton is also out of the question." Came Dot's reply.****"Noble Six, all our birds are stuck out of range unless you can do something about those guns."****"Again, why is the job left to me?" She replied, hopping out of the Warthog as it drew close, expertly headshotting any stragglers she hadn't mown over with the vehicle.****Before heading inside the AA gun, she took a moment to look at the battle in the valley below, UNSC and Covenant forces trading fire, many different vehicles launching all sorts of projectiles, bullets, plasma, missiles, rockets, One of the Covenant walkers launched a huge beam that obliterated everything it came to touch. The feed paused and Ruby pointed at it.**

"That's a Scarab," she began, as her team stared at the destruction it wrought. "A Quadrupedal walker with armour as thick as a Carrier's hull, it has small plasma turrets on its side for the crew to use, as well as one large one on it's back and that beam, originally an excavation laser, but proved quite effective at destroying ships and vehicles, as you can see. It has 1 major weak point, it's core, like any covenant vehicle," that last part was muttered, "And can be accessed easily by 2 ways; sustain enough damage to a leg so that it is temporarily disabled, and hop in and destroy it with whatever means necessary, or, blow up the back, the weakest part of a Scarab, like I said, it was used for mining purposes before the war started, with something like a tank or mistle, and then shoot the core from afar."

"And why are you telling us this?" Weiss asked, seemingly slightly annoyed by the explanation.

"Because…" As much as I hope it doesn't happen, The Covenant may end up coming here, and you would need to be prepared."

Weiss shrank a bit.

"They are actually a Megalekgolo structure like Hunters, just a far larger colony."

**The feed resumes as Ruby headed inside of the AA gun, finding the central power core, and once it's protective shield was gone, she tossed a grenade from a nearby Elite and vacated the now doomed building. Alarms blared as the whole thing exploded, the gun, powering down yet somehow remaining intact.****"Control, 2 Lima 4, permission to commence bombing runs, heading 224.6, over." Came the man over the coms again****Ruby pauses to watch as 3 Longswords and 2 large ships fly overhead.**

"Those are heavy frigates," Ruby says to her team, as they stare in awe, "535 meters long each, the UNSC _Grafton_ and _Saratoga_,"

"535 meters!?" For a frigate!?" Weiss practically screamed, Ruby just laughed,

"Oh man, you ain't seen nothing yet."

**"Good work, Noble Six. UNSC air support: skies are clear." Carter affirmed over the coms.****"Copy. 2 Lima 4, bombing run, heading 224.6, permission granted - out." Control ordered as both Frigates opened fire on the Covenant forces in the valley, as the longswords bomb the three Scarabs, destroying two of them and disabling the third.**

"That is also an effective strategy if available." Ruby added.

**Ruby and Kat hop back into the warthog and move on, soon driving under a partially destroyed bridge. A Pelican, while under fire from a Phantom, drops off a temporary bridge, allowing them to continue. They follow the track through a canyon before Carter called them.****"Noble Six, there's a mining facility near your location."Carter notified them as they rounded a corner to see the cluster of buildings, seemingly out of place in the canyon cliff. "The Covenant are using it as a Command outpost. Troopers on site have already engaged."****Sure enough, a small squadron were using concrete walls as cover as they tried to advance into the facility, but were being pinned down by several Jackals, Grunts and a shade turret.****"Everyone get back!" Ruby ordered the marines as she took control of the Warthog's missile launcher, sending the 6 missiles directly onto the crowd of Covenant, obliterating them all.****The whole squad plus Kat and Ruby advanced, with Ruby taking point as they ran up the stairs.****"New intelligence," came Dot's voice over the com system, "Friendly forces near the Covenant outpost have spotted a high-value target. An Elite Zealot in fact."****"A Zealot?" Kat repeated, "We're onto something big here, Commander."****"Eyes on the prize, Noble. Take out that Zealot if you get the chance, but keep movin' towards the spires."****"Consider it dead Commander," Ruby replied, as they spotted small covenant forces though the walkway, one shot from her DMR exploded a gas tank, making short work of them.**

"What was in that tank?!" Weiss asked, shocked at the explosion.

"Either Liquid Petroleum gas or natural gas, either way, it's highly volatile, and thus, explosive."

**Next was an Elite standing over a plasma cannon, 1 shot form the grenade launcher distracted him long enough so that Ruby could run-up to it and cut it down with her combat knife.****"No visual on target," Kat announced, as the squad moved forward. They turned a corner to find the Zealot standing on the nearby roof of a building.****Ruby didn't hesitate, she fired 4 grenades over in it's direction, it tried to evade the first 2, only to jump right into the others, breaking it's shield, only to get headshot as Ruby switched to her DMR.****"High-value target has been neutralized." Kat informed Carter, "Impressive, Red."****"You say that like I'm fresh out of basic, Katty," Ruby replied****"It's just nice to see you living up to your file."****They continued, assassinating the grunts that were trying to make it to a couple of ghosts.****"You wound me, Kat." Ruby said, mock hurt seeping into her voice, as she swapped her now empty grenade launcher for a plasma launcher, "Did I train with someone different for 18 years?"****"Alright, enough chit-chat." Carter cut in before Kat could reply, "Scans show another Covenant AA gun ahead of your location. I want you to neutralize that gun, by any means necessary."****"Copy that," Ruby replies, climbing into a nearby Revenant.**

"Why didn't you use your semblance to kill the Zealot?" Yang asked,

"Close combat with a Zealot isn't ideal," was Ruby's response, "I may have done if it was a small skirmish, but in a strike force to quell an invading army, efficiency is key, and using my semblance like that would be a waste of energy."

**They followed the canyon path and found the AA gun, guarded by 2 wraiths, Which results in Ruby getting into a mortar battle with them. She won by keeping too close to them to be able to use theirs without harming their own tank, and repeatedly launching balls of flaming plasma into the hull.****After they were dealt with 2 hunters appeared from within the AA gun, only for one to also be destroyed by the Revenant mortar. The other, having some sense, retreated back into the structure, but it backfired as Ruby shot 2 mortars into the structure, and after hearing the alarm go off, followed by the subsequent explosion, realized she accidentally blew up the AA gun, which in turn, blew up the hunter.****"Well, that's convenient." She said, staring at the flaming ruins.****"You mean… You didn't plan that?" Kat asked, also gazing at it.****"Nope!" Ruby replied.****They were snapped out of their thoughts when a Pelican dropped of more marines, and Carter issued them new orders over the radio.****"Well done, Six." Carter began, "ONI needs up-close recon on those spires, we're gonna fly you the rest of the way."****"Jorge has a Falcon inbound to your position. Lieutenant, highlighting the LZ now."****"Commander, I'm going to set up a forward observation post here." Kat voiced as the Falcon landed in front of Ruby.****"Copy that, I'm waiting on new intel. See what you can see, Carter out."****"Need a lift, Spartan?" Jorge jokes,****"Eh, save a brisk jog." Ruby quips back, taking the Gunner's seat.****"Spotted some nasty business in the canyon on the way down."****"Got it."****"I'll call out targets as we go." The pilot calls out as they left off and head down the canyon.****"Top of the canyon, dead ahead."****As he called it, a squad of Jackals try to cross the bridge they flew over, but were blown to bits as Ruby launches several grenades into the tunnel they came out of.**

"A Lot of grenades in this mission," Blake comments,

"Hey, they're effective and cheap." Was her team leader's reply.

**As they continue flying over the open valley, they spot more forces further down the canyon, but each was taken out by 1 or 2 expertly placed grenades.****"Nice shooting, Spartan." The pilot comments.****"Stay sharp, Six. We're not out of the canyon yet." Jorge warns as the Falcon approaches a complicated Covenant structure that is shielded, similar domes can be seen in an ark in the distance.****"There's the spire." The pilot confirms.****"Latest intel suggests these spires may be projecting electromagnetic cloaking shields." Dot explains, as they approach the edge of the shield, stopping and hovering just outside it.****"Solid copy, Dot." Carter responds****"Priority One, pilot. Gotta know what's in there." Jorge tells the uneasy pilot.****"Affirmative, sir... Here we go."****They fly towards the barrier, but as soon as the bird touches it, electricity ripples through it, and it begins to spin out of control.****"We just lost all power. We're going down." The Pilot informs them as he tries to wrestle the controls.****"Lock your armour, Spartan!" Jorge orders, as he clung to the body of the Falcon,****"Not need to tell me twice!" Ruby replies.****"Brace for a hard landing."****The Falcon crashes.****Ruby gets thrown a short distance from the Falcon, she looks up to see Jorge emerging from the Falcon, grunting as he tosses out equipment. Ruby grabs the rifle that had landed on the ground next to her and stands up. After looking around briefly, Jorge picks up his gun. An ominous quiet surrounds them.****"Crew's dead. We shouldn't stay here." Jorge says grimly, "I'm showing hostiles all over the place, we gotta move."****Ruby spots a jetpack module and shrugs it on.****"May come in handy," she tells Jorge as they move up the river, eliminating the Jackals and Skirmishers as they climb.****"Commander, we got eyes on the spire. Looks like a staging area". Jorge relays as they surmount a cliff, 2 banshees flew over them, Ruby followed their paths for a moment.****"Copy," Carter responded, "We have your visual. Dot's working the problem, stand by."****Ruby hums to herself a moment.****"Noble Five, ONI believes those spires to be teleportation terminals." Dot informs Jorge.****"Teleporter? Linked to what?"****"Never mind that now, Frigate Grafton is on station ready to kill that spire, but first we need to power down its shields," Carter ordered the duo.****"Understood. Red, I'll hold these bastards off, you find a way to the top of the spire."****"It's already done." She runs towards the edge of the cliff.**

"Don't tell me…" Weiss groans,

"Yup," Ruby replied cheerfully "hey, it's effective."

**She flies up, firing at a Banshee to grab its attention. It turns on her, and begins firing at her with its plasma turrets, Ruby just zooms behind it with her semblance, and grabs onto the lid, wrenching it open and then tearing out the elite inside, it snarls at her as it falls to its death below.****Ruby mock salutes it on its way down,****"Get skyjacked sucker!" And hops into the Banshee, flying up to the top of the spire.****"Noble Leader, Six is on her way up." Jorge relayed.****"Get in there. Take out that shield, Lieutenant."****"Already done sir." Was Ruby's reply as she landed.****"Spartans, I'm en route with a Falcon, will pick you up as soon as you knock out power to that shield."****"Ready when you are, Six". Jorge called out.****As she enters, she assassinates the grunts right next to the controls. An Elite Ultra, manning the controls of the spire, draws his Energy Sword as soon as it sees Ruby, Growling as it swiped at her.****"Hurry, Lieutenant. We got a Frigate inbound to blow that spire as soon as the shield is powered down." Carter urges her.****"Yup, just encountering a little resistance, seems the locals don't like tourists."****She rolls back to dodge another swipe, firing several shots into its head, then using her semblance to charge into it after it's shield is broken, slamming it into the wall before it could react.****"Lieutenant, drop the shield and get out of there."****"On my way!"****The shield dissipates as Ruby runs for a Falcon and leaps off the spire. She is caught by Jorge, who pulls Six up into the Falcon with a grunt of effort.**

"Just to show you how strong a Spartan II is." Ruby chuckles to her team.

**"Get us outta here," Carter orders the pilot as they pull away.****"Control? This is Noble One. Spire One is green and you're free to engage. Have a nice day."****"Copy that, Noble One. Be advised, all ground units: Frigate Three-One-Eight heavy is inbound, and MAC rounds have been authorized."****"MAC rounds? In atmosphere?" Jorge protests,****"One way to get their attention! Hang on to your teeth, people!"****The UNSC _Grafton_, in a shallow dive, moves towards the spire past the Falcon a the Spartans brace themselves.****It continues to move towards the spire, and, with a bright flash, fires its MAC cannon, hitting the spire and shattering it. Jorge, satisfied, turns back and nods at Carter and Ruby, but she continues to watch, as a purple glow illuminates the sky above the _Grafton_.****An energy beam shoots down from the sky and hits _Grafton's_ bow section, instantly gutting the ship. Secondary explosions blossom along the hull, and _Grafton_ begins to plummet towards the ground.****"New contact. High-tonnage." Dot warns as the wreckage plummets****The Spartans watch as the aft section of the _Grafton_ explodes. The forward section crashes to the ground.****"No. No!" Jorge yells "Somebody tell me this ain't happening!"****"UNSC frigate _Grafton_, do you copy?" Control asks,**

**"The _Grafton_ is dust! We need to get out of here, now!" Carter yells**** as ****Ruby looks up at the offending ship,**

**"Mother of God…" she mutters, getting the other team members' attention, as they look up to see the belly of a massive ship, spanning to the horizon on both sides, sickly yellow gold in colour, with its core hovering over where the spire was.**"Gods…" Weiss gasps, "How big is that thing."

"The Long Night of Solace: a 30km long Covenant CSO-supercarrier, teleported in and shielded by the spire array." Ruby grimaces.

"3-30km..?!" It comes out more as a whimper. "30,000 meters… it could wipe out the entire might of the Atlas military on its own."

"As much as it hurts me to say it, but a single carrier can do that, when we first encountered the Covenant, the only thing that could put a scratch on a carrier that we had, was a MAC cannon, and that took several shots."

The rest of her team just stared in stunned silence as the feed fast forward again.


	5. Cahpter 5: Long night of solace

So, this is my favorite mission by far in the game, space is just so cool. Like I said in the last chapter, I'm kinda bogged down with moving right now, so no chapters until we're settled, probably, mid September time, so enjoy.

\--

**The feed resumes as Jun, Jorge and Ruby, are sneaking past a Scarab, showing exactly how big it is compared to the three Spartans.**

**"Our foe is more devious than we imagined." Dot provided, "That spire was indeed a teleporter linked to a cloaked, Covenant Super-Carrier... A grave threat."**

**They arrive at a cave and Jorge thrusts the case down in front of Emile with a grunt.**

**"Thankfully, help is imminent. Sixty percent of the UNSC fleet is en route to Reach from existing deployments. The first battle group should arrive within forty-eight hours."**

**"Forty-eight hours?" Jun yells, practically ripping off his helmet as he looks at Jorge as if he might have an answer, "That's imminent?"**

**He takes a glance at Kat and Carter before wiping of Jorge's shoulder Pauldron, Ruby follows his gaze.**

**"Uh-oh. Who's your money on this time?" Jun asks,**

**"Her." Was Jorge's reply, Ruby responded with a snort.**

**"You always pick her."**

**"She's always had him dialled in."**

**"That's Kat alright," Ruby replies, siding with Jorge, before listening on their conversation.**

**"That thing's crushing us, and we're waiting for backup? They'll be backing up a graveyard." Kat protests to her commander,**

**"All our nukes are either out-system or went down with the ships that carried them. You're preaching to the converted."**

**"How converted?"**

**"I know that look, Kat."**

**"You can say no."**

**"No."**

**"You don't even want to hear it?"**

**He sighs "...Fine. I'll hear it."**

**"Remember that accident a couple years back? Colony ship en route to Cygnus. Seven hundred dead?"**

**"Vaguely. A slip-space drive malfunction, right?"**

**"Actually, it worked fine. The drive was mounted improperly after a service haul-out. When it fired it teleported half the ship to oblivion."**

**"And this is relevant...how?"**

**"A certain Covenant Supercarrier could, with some assistance, suffer the same unfortunate accident..." She suggested, smiling.**

**"Even for you, Kat, that's-"**

**"Inspired?"**

**"Not the word I would use."**

**It was them the others joined in on the conversation, walking up to them as Jorge asks,**

**"What's going on?"**

**Carter-Gestures to Kat, "Go ahead. Explain.**

**Kat reaches for Emile's knife, but he stops her, helmet seemingly glaring.**

**"May I?" She asks, unfazed.**

**"Don't cut yourself." He jibes as he lets her take it.**

**"Objective?" She began, drawing patterns in the sand, "Destroy Covenant Carrier in geosynchronous orbit above us."**

**"This sanctioned, sir?" Jorge mutters to Carter,**

**"What do you think?"**

**"Oh."**

**"Method? A slip-space drive in lieu of the nukes we don't have. Delivery system? Us. Solvable? Getting us up there. That, and getting our hands on a slip-space drive."**

**She gives Emile back the knife.**

**"Thank you for sharing." She smiles at him.**

**"So" Carter began to summarize the problems, "All we need is orbit-capable transport, and the single most expensive piece of equipment made by man?"**

**"As a soldier in the field, I couldn't possibly have access to those kinds of resources." Kat replied, in a semi-sarcastic tone, "That said, a good place to look might be... I don't know, the nearest nonexistent launch site in the nonexistent Sabre Program, dismissed by three administrations as preposterous rumour."**

**"Kat…" Ruby began, "If you're talking about what I think you are…"**

**"And in which our newest member was certainly never a pilot."**

**They all look at Ruby, who just sighs.**

**"You're scary, you know that?" Emile asks, voicing the thoughts of all of Noble and RWBY.**

**"All we need is a green light from Holland."**

**"Good luck with that," Carter replies,**

**She hands Him a datapad. "You're the one asking him."**

**He sighs, and reluctantly takes the pad, turning away.**

**"Oh, there's no way in hell he's gonna go for this."**

"Aaand skip!" Ruby calls out, fast-forwarding, past it.

"Woah, woah, woah, why skip?" Yang asks, excited to see Holland's reaction,

"Trust me when I say you do not want to hear that conversation."

Yang growls but sits back down.

"Hey, you get to see space in about 10 minutes." Was Ruby's response, "Probably the first in all of Remant's history."

**A Falcon drops off Carter, Kat, Jorge and Ruby at a beach, downrange from a facility.**

**"Bit of a hike to the launch facility," Jorge mutters,**

**"Anywhere closer's too hot to land."Carter explained, "Move up the beach, Noble."**

**They move up the beach, eventually reaching an area where a Dropship is dropping off several Covenant troops. The launch station is now in view.**

**"Launch facility, dead ahead," Kat Confirms as they begin to eliminate the hostiles. Just when they think they're finishing up, several drop-pods land and numerous Elites come out, they didn't provide much more resistance as Noble team pushed up the hill.**

**They eventually reach the base and quickly stock up on ammo before heading inside,**

**"Everybody inside, more hostiles on the way." A guard stationed outside calls to them, waving his arm to get them to head inside**

**"Inside Red, let's go." Carter reiterates, as if it was necessary.**

**"Flight control's this way!" Another trooper says, his gun pointed behind Noble as they pass him, "They're expecting you."**

**"Still can't believe Holland said yes to this," Jorge mutters as they continue up towards the flight deck.**

**"Well, some plans are too good to say no." Was Kat's reply.**

**"We got a Wraith on the lower platform!" They heard another soldier shout as they passed,**

**"Well, let's get that Sabre airborne before he changes his mind." Carter urges the small team, as they continue.**

**"Control's right through that door, Commander."**

**As Noble Team head for the control room, an Army trooper is thrown into the wall. As an Elite emerges, and is quickly dealt with.**

**A warning blares through the speakers, "Warning: launch facility breached. Covenant forces have entered the base."**

**"No shit." Ruby mutters, "Well, if there wasn't enough incentive already…"**

**They the control room, which is filled with dead troopers. As they reach the far side of the room, a bulkhead opens to reveal a sleek, grey jet, looking like it was built for Mach speeds, attached to a large rocket in a halfpipe rig securing it upright.**

"Why is it attached to that big tank? Blake asked, "Surely you could just launch it into space?"

"Not really," Ruby, answered, "The types of engines that Sabres use are terribly inefficient in atmosphere, if we were to launch it as is, you'd barely able to get into orbit, let alone dogfight and take on a cruiser. The tank has its own engine to get it into space, then it will separate and the main engines will fire. It's actually the technique that we used to use before we got space-elevators, a multi-staged rocket, though, it was mainly because as you use fuel, the tank gets emptied and becomes dead weight. It was terribly inefficient too, having to use roughly 100 times the mass of the payload in fuel to get it into space."

**"Jorge, Red: get to the Sabre before the Covenant wreck it," Carter ordered,**

**"What about you and Kat?" Jorge protested,**

**"Jun's on his way with a Falcon, we'll exfil after you launch. Move!**

**"You heard him. Red, let's go."**

**Ruby tilted her head, "If you say so." And made her way up the ramp,**

**"Launch teams, Sabre is prepped and ready for launch." A man addressed her as she clambered into the vertical facing seat, flipping switches and doing preliminary checks.**

**"All systems green," she called out as Jorge climbed in, and the ramp detaches.**

**"Struts disengaged." The Sabre's onboard computer said as the cockpit closed on them, "Commencing launch in T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2..."**

**The screen begins to shake as the engines ignite and they begin ascending to the clouds, Ruby looks outside to see another Sabre not far behind them.**

**"First stage engine burn nominal." The computer droned, though it was barely audible over the engines.**

**As the Sabe climbs, the sky slowly turns a darker shade of blue, clouds whizz by as they ascend into the upper atmosphere, an orange cone envelopes the craft as it gets faster, but eventually fades to reveal a near-black sky, the planet below them, glowing an eerire blue, with teal whisps flying of it like ghostly tendrils, the moons, almost directly in their line of sight.**

**"Stage separation in 3, 2, 1…" the computer announces, "Stage separation."**

**Some rumbling and metallic clangs are heard as the stage separates, and the main engines start up.**

**"Second stage ignition confirmed." They zoom up a little further, before pointing the nose up so they fly across Reach. It's blue oceans and green hills below, a Hurricane could be seen over the sea.**

"It's… Beautiful…" Weiss manages, as the rest of team RWBY are left speechless,

"Sure is, isn't it?" Ruby replies, "Nothing quite like space."

**The Sabre flips over as a station surrounded by debris comes into view, other Sabres flying around, along with 2 frigates docked. It seemingly floats still, as Ruby flies close to it.**

**"Noble Actual to Sabre Bravo-oh-two-niner, over." Came Colonel Holland's voice into Ruby and Jorge's helmets,**

**"Copy, Actual. Colonel Holland?" Jorge responds,**

**"Affirmative, Noble Five. Welcome to Operation: UPPERCUT. I'll be your control from here on out."**

**"Understood, Colonel."**

"Why aren't you talking to him?" Yang asks puzzled.

**"I'm the one piloting the ship," Ruby answered, "Flying in space is a lot different to in atmosphere, it requires your full attention, so Jorge is my voice and radar as I focus on not crashing into stuff."**

**"Multiple unidentified contacts!" He shouts as they flair up on Ruby's HUD.**

**"_Savannah_ Actual to Sabre teams, be advised: we have bogies inbound." One of the Frigates said as they turned round to face where the markers were.**

**"Anchor 9 to all UNSC ships: station defences are down. Requesting combat support until we can bring them back online." The station asked.**

**"Here we go, Red. Show them what you can do!"**

**"On it."**

**Multiple Banshees appear with flashes for each of them, and are immediately engaged by the Sabres.**

**Ruby guns down several while dodging their fire expertly with various manoeuvres.**

"Jeez sis, is there anything you can't do?" Yang asks rhetorically, amazed at the show on screen

"Oh I have a fair list, pilot starships solo, build a nova bomb…" was the sarcastic response.

**"Defensive batteries are at 56%; hang in there, Sabre teams." Anchor 9 notified the teams**

**The rest of the Banshees were quickly dispatched, but no sooner had they finished firing, did more signatures appear on the HUD.**

**"Anchor Niner to UNSC ships: impulse drive signatures detected, fighter-class. Heads up, Sabres."**

**There was another series of flashes as much more heavily armoured, teardrop-shaped ships appeared.**

**"Sabre teams:" Holland instructed, "Use your guns to take down their shields, then hit 'em with your missiles!" Ruby was already doing this as she acquired a missile lock on one, sending 8 missiles to send the craft to oblivion.**

**"Defensive batteries at 79%; buy us another minute Sabre teams."**

**The Seraphs, while tougher, were easily destroyed as well.**

**"Anchor Niner to all craft in the vicinity, be advised: we show a large attack force inbound. Combat air patrol and Sabre teams are directed to engage and defend the station."**

**"Is there any place the Covenant isn't?" Jorge grunted angrily.**

**"In here," Ruby replied, before focusing on the flashes as more Seraphs and Banshees appear**

**"Anchor 9 to all UNSC ships: station defences are back online. Clear the lane, we'll light 'em up."**

**The Station that until now had been silent, and unmoving, began to fire upon the invading Covenant ships as well as the Sabre teams. With their combined firepower, even the pincer attack of the two ship types are dealt with.**

**Ruby does a circuit around Anchor 9 as things calm down a bit, but is interrupted a 5 new signatures show up.**

**"Anchor 9 to Sabre teams: Phantoms are inbound on vector seven mark four-niner."**

**Soon, several Phantoms appear, and are immediately assaulted by missiles from the Sabres,**

**"Anchor 9 to all UNSC fighters: multiple inbound Phantoms headed straight for our defensive batteries. Sabre teams, marking high-value gunboat targets now."**

**They flash up red, as more Banshees and Seraphs appear, acting as distractions for the Phantoms.**

**"Gunboats are in position, damage control teams at the ready. Phantom torpedoes away; brace for impact! Collision alarm." Anchor 9 yells over the coms,**

**"We're working on it!" Ruby calls.**

**As the last Phantom is destroyed, all the remaining Banshees and Seraphs flee, and Ruby lets loose a breath she didn't know she was holding.**

**"Anchor Niner to UNSC ships: all targets neutralized. Bravo-oh-two-niner, you are clear to dock. Activating marker."**

**"Holland to Bravo-oh-two-niner. Noble Five, you ready to go?"**

**"Affirmative, Colonel," Jorge replied, as Ruby flies the Sabre to the station, docking it in a hanger**

**"I'm out here, Red." Jorge says, releasing his harness, causing the Computer to go haywire.**

**"Warning: M-Spec re-entry pack disengaged." It repeats over and over,**

**"I need your override."**

**"Got yah," a few flips of switches and the hiss of gas signify the cockpit release.**

**"Warning: M-Spec re-entry-" the computer cuts itself off as the cockpit opens, "Cockpit depressurization complete. Canopy release lever: armed."**

**Jorge exits the Sabre, and pushes himself off, gliding upwards to an awaiting Pelican.**

**"Megszakad a szivem..." He mutters,**

**"Noble Five? Please repeat." Dot asks as he latches into the Pelican.**

**"Pull up surface grid, nineteen-by-twenty-two."**

**"Gladly. ONI Sword Base: Sector 18-G."**

**"Thermal enhance."**

**"Noble Five, your pulse is elevated. There is nothing you can do for Doctor Halsey and the others inside Sword Base. The mathematics are determinate... Noble Five?"**

**Ruby looks over at Jorge, a small figure about 40 meters away.**

**"I know."**

**"Bravo-oh-two-niner, you're cleared to re-engage thrusters." The station tells Ruby.**

**"Noble Six, this is Holland."**

**"Go ahead, Colonel." Ruby responded, disengaging from the station.**

**"We've flagged a Corvette-class vessel on a predicted docking track with our target.**

**Get our makeshift bomb on that Corvette, and we have our delivery system. Noble Five will escort the bomb. I need your Sabre team to clear the way for boarding."**

**"Understood, Colonel."**

**"As she's already donated her slipspace drive to the cause, the _Savannah_ will be joining you to provide local fire support."**

**"UNSC _Savannah_. Our wings may be clipped, but we've got your back."**

**"I've stuck my neck out for Noble on this one, Lieutenant."**

**"We'll get it done, Colonel. Six out."**

**As the Sabers along with their accompanying frigate, drew close on the last reported location of the Corvette, Dot, received another view,**

**"Target Corvette sighted within visual range of NAV Beacon RA-15."**

**"We have visual." Ruby replied, as they drew near the purple ship, "Target confirmed."**

**"Frigate _Savannah_ in position. Sabre teams: sound off."**

**"Echo 1, all systems nominal."**

**"Echo 2, good to go."**

**"Echo 3, systems green."**

**"Echo 4, all systems online."**

**"Noble 6, systems fully operational."**

**"Solid copy. We are currently jamming the Corvette's comms, hit it hard while it can't call for help."**

**"Agreed." Holland confirmed, "Sabre teams, clear a path to that Corvette."**

**They began to engage the fighters that fried to initiate countermeasures, but the sabre teams proved too nimble and had more firepower than the Banshees and Seraphs.**

**"Might wanna clip her engines, Colonel." _Savannah_ suggested, "See if we can slow her down."**

**"Good thinking, _Savannah_." He replied, as Ruby already was moving into position, "That will make boarding her a whole lot easier. Noble Six, I'm marking targets: take out the Corvette's main engines."**

**A quick missile lock to each of them had them sufficiently damaged to take out its manoeuvrability.**

**"Warning: Energy flares detected in the Corvette's aft launch bays."**

**Dot warned as flashes signified the arrival of more ships.**

**"Heads up, Sabres: multiple impulse drive signatures detected, more bogies incoming."**

**"Echo 2 to _Savannah_ Actual. Where are the reinforcements coming from? I thought the target was jammed."**

**"Must be squadrons coming back from patrol, Echo 2."**

**"Don't let any of them get away, Sabres!" Holland practically yelled over the systems, "Kill them before they bug out and warn that Supercarrier what we're up to."**

**It didn't take long for the new arrivals to be dispatched.**

**"Dot, analyze all available data on that Corvette. Find a way inside." Holland ordered,**

**"Scans indicate a structural weakness surrounding a platform on top of the vessel."**

**As Ruby Circled the Corvette, she saw the platform, a wide-open platform with a shield, presumably for docking Phantoms.**

**"Noble Six, set down immediately on that Corvette's topside landing pad."**

**She circles round once more and then flies in low to the landing pad, the other sabres following suit, as they landed gently.**

**They all got out and the marines looked to be wearing some sort of suit, drastically different to their normal gear, and everything was muffled.**

"Why us everything muffled?" Asked Weiss, "And what's up with the marine's outfits?"

"Simple answer," Ruby began, "Is space. There's no medium for the soundwaves to travel through, except me, so it's like covering your ears with your hands. As for the suits, they're vacuum-sealed, if they weren't, they'd be dead in minutes, boiled alive."

"Boiled?" Yang was confused now, "Wouldn't they freeze?"

"No, the thing is, pressure is one of the main things keeping water liquid on planets, if in a vacuum, the pull to fill the space with something is too much so any liquid would boil at a much lower temperature than on a planet's surface, water, happens to boil at 30C, or, a bit under natural body temperature."

The rest of the team shivered a moment.

"Since the body 60% water, any exposed liquids, so the lungs and eyes, will vaporise, it's a horribly painful way to go, eyes bursting as they explode from the pressure decrease, and then the blood boils in your veins."

Feeling she had scarred her team enough, she returned to the feed.

**"Noble Six, the _Savannah's_ counter-measures won't work forever." Holland reminded them, "Find a way inside, and permanently disable the cruiser's communications.**

**As soon as we're sure the Corvette can't squawk, we'll initiate UPPERCUT phase two."**

**A couple of Elites in space gear jump through the shield, one at either end, Ruby quickly dealt with the first one then jumped over the shield and pummeled the other.**

"Wait, why can you jump so far?"Blake asked, curious, "On Reach, you could only jump a couple meters in the air."

"Remember my orbit explanation?" They all nodded, "Because of our side-ward velocity, Gravity can't pull us down, giving you a state which is known as microgravity, where it doesn't seem to affect you, you just float, like with Jorge back at Anchor 9.

The only reason why I'm not flying off here is because of the magnetic soles in my boots, I can adjust them to make myself able to jump as if I was a flea, or have the same influence as normal gravity, there is artificial gravity on the ship, but only in the sealed decks, to prevent the gravitons from flying off into space or something. I'm the wrong person to ask about artificial gravity"

**They descend through the shield, any covenant that wasn't in vacuum-sealed armour had bloated up to nearly twice their size, eyes missing in empty sockets, leaving a handful of grunts and elites left. They were quickly eliminated and Ruby found the Communication controls and turned them off.**

**"Six to Actual, Com relay offline." She relayed,**

**"Holland to _Savannah_, enemy comm relay is now offline."**

**"Copy that. Halting counter-measures, diverting all power and personnel to weapons."**

**"Alright, Noble. Let's get that Slipspace bomb on board. Six, head for the hangar."**

**They make their way through a door, quickly silencing the grunts at the other side, a few of the squads had died on the initial break-in, but a few were left standing, one radioed in on Holland,**

**"Colonel, we're on our way to the hangar."**

**"Noble Five, meet 'em there."**

**"Affirmative, on approach." He replied,**

**Ruby and the surviving troopers engage a large number of enemy troops in the hangar, including a large floating creature with tentacles emitting pulses of energy which provided the Covenant with purple shields, the feed paused as Ruby scoped it, just before firing.**

"This is an Engineer, a mostly passive species within the Covenant, and brilliant with tech, I always feel kinda sad for the little guys, seemingly slaves for the Covenant, but because of their abilities, if they can't be secured, like in this mission where we're blowing up a supercarrier, they have to be eliminated, fast, they are a high priority target, and the first to die in a firefight."

The team looks sorrowfully at the small creatures, as the feed resumes.

**The Engineer explodes before Ruby quickly dealt with the squad dispose the small battalion there.**

**"Red, go for those shield controls. I need in." Jorge tells her as she finds them on a platform by the hanger bay, she deactivated them with a few movements and gestures on the control panel.**

**"Alright, door is open," she says, watching the Pelican fly in.**

**"Powder keg is aboard, Colonel," Jorge says as he walks out the back, along with several marines. Ruby takes a moment to look at the slipspace bomb, just a standard drive with a small computer attached to it.**

**"Copy that. Six, get your fireteam to the bridge; the Corvette's refuelling run with the Supercarrier will have to be initiated manually."**

**She turns round, reloading her rifle as she replied, "Yes, sir."**

**Five, stay with the bomb. And discourage the curious."**

**"My pleasure. Hear that, Lieutenant? I'll be all by my lonesome back here. Make it quick, would ya?"**

**"Hey, what do you think I'm built for?" She retorted, "Math?"**

**"Noble Six, focus," Holland chastised her, "Get that Corvette moving toward the Supercarrier. Head for the bridge. Find the NAV controls."**

**"On it Commander." She restocks on ammo that the marines provide from the Pelican, just in time for a squad of Covenant to check on the hanger, with the reinforcements, they are quickly felled, before Ruby pushes forward with a decent number of Marines towards the bridge.**

**Halfway there, they come across some plasma Elites firing heavy plasma turrets at the _Savannah_.**

**"_Savannah_ to Holland: sustaining major structural damage! We need to break off, Colonel!"**

**"Copy, _Savannah_. Our team is in, disengage!"**

**Ruby quickly takes initiative and both elites drop from two barks of her DMR.**

**"Break off! Break off! Hull breach, reactors flaring! Dammit, I'm losing her!" She was too late, as the ship has several explosions blossoming across its hull. It fragmentates, then explodes at its mid-section.**

**"_Savannah_ Actual, can you hear me?" Holland called as Ruby stared at the drifting wreckage, clenching her fists.**

**"Frigate's gone, Red... Nothing we can do." Jorge says, stopping Ruby going red with rage. She sighs.**

**Noble, you're in deep with no cover. Get that Corvette moving and get the hell outta there!"**

**"Affirmative…" came her determined reply, they pushed onward to the bridge, where several Elite generals, spec ops, and squads if grunts and Jackals were waiting. Ruby and the Marines, quickly engage, each of the Marines dying to the hoard, Leaving Ruby The only one standing against the Generals.**

**It takes a little while, but they were eventually defeated, leaving a painting Ruby standing.**

**"Move, Lieutenant! Put that Corvette on a refuelling track to the Supercarrier." Holland's urgency Snaps Ruby out of her daydreaming, as she finds the Navicom and sets it to refuel with the Supercarrier.**

**"Well done, Noble Six. UPPERCUT initiated, Corvette is underway."**

**"Six, our ride outta here is taking heavy fire! Get back to the hangar!" Jorge calls, and Ruby shakes herself down before calling out to him,**

**"On my way!" And uses her semblance to speed back the way she came, not even caring about the Covenant forces she zipped by on the way there.**

**She arrives back to the hangar, to find the Pelican and Jorge, his Marines dead too, under heavy attack, She begins to help the tank of Noble to take care of the pests.**

**"Good of you to come, hostiles are pounding the hell outta the Pelican."**

**"Well, someone's gotta protect it." She quipped,**

**"_Savannah_ did a number on the door. There's no way back up to the Sabres, form up on me."**

**Once the Covenant were dealt with, Ruby kept watch for any stragglers, while Jorge configured the bomb,**

**"Distance is closing on this vessel's refuelling track with the Covenant Supercarrier. Seventy-six seconds to endpoint." Dot chimed**

**"Damn it... So, it's gonna be like that." Jorge mutters, before hitting the timer in frustration.**

**The noise caught Ruby's attention as Jorge turned to face her,**

**"Well, I got good news and bad news." He began, "This bird took some fire and her thruster gimbal is toast. So the only way off this slag heap is gravity."**

**Ruby breathed in sharply, expecting the worst, "And the good news?"**

**"That was the good news."**

**"At current velocity, fifty-three seconds to endpoint." Dot reminded them,**

**"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." He mutters before ripping off his helmet and discarding it to the side, staring at Ruby's visor with a grim, but determined expression.**

**"Bad news is, timer's fried. I'm gonna have to fire it manually."**

**"That's a one-way trip, Jorge…."**

**"We all make it sooner or later. Better get going Red, they're gonna need you down there." He tilts his head up and grabs his dog tags, ripping them off his neck and handing them to Ruby, "Listen, Reach has been good to me."**

**As Ruby goes to take them, he clasps her hand tightly, and lifts her up, carrying her to the shield of the hanger,**

**"Time has come to return the favour. Don't deny me this."**

**"Jorge... Dammit." Ruby kind of mutters, barely to herself,**

**"Tell 'em to make it count."**

**And with that he throws her outside, leaving her to freefall to the planet, she kept her head skyward, watching the Corvette move towards the Supercarrier, becoming a small speck as Ruby fell away from it.**

**The Corvette seems to spark for a moment, bright purple, before a massive black sphere with purple radiating from it, encompasses the small vessel and a large portion of the giant it was flying towards, the ball shines brightly for a moment, then fades as the now split sections of the carrier begin to drift.**

"Woah…" Was all Yang, the soul member of the team to speak, managed to get out, Ruby just looked to the floor, acutely remembering the neural link they shared for being Spartans on the same team, thanks to their neural implant, fade into nothingness, leaving an empty hole where he should be. It was the entire reason she became a lone wolf, unable to bear that pain, of knowing someone, truly, on such a fundamental level, only to have them vanish.

The rest of her team couldn't help but stare in awe, before realising the implication of what happened. After a moment, Blake spoke up,

"I'm sorry…" the others then realised what she was talking about and their faces dropped.

Ruby just looked up at them grimly, "It happens, you have to get used to this sort of thing as a soldier." She didn't expect them to get the implications of the connections between Spartans, and didn't go to explain it, few ever did, why make the situation seem worse? It had happened, you move on.

**A purple wave encompases where the portal was, spreading out in all directions, flaring Ruby's shield as passed before flashes to her right caught her attention.**

**"Slipspace rupture detected." Dot called out, as Ruby began being assaulted by coms from various stations,**

**"Gamma Station Control, reading multiple pings below the Orbital Defense Grid."**

**Several Covenant ships appeared in flashes, carriers, Corvettes, Cruisers, none as big as the one destroyed, but one after another,**

**"Slipspace rupture detected."**

**"No…" she muttered to herself, flipping round to see them clearer,**

**"Yeah, we're picking up anomalies too."**

**"Are you reading this?"**

**"Slipspace rupture detected."**

**More and more Covenant ships keep dropping out of slipspace.**

**"No, no, no, NO!" Ruby began yelling over and over, as she began to curse the ships flashing into her view.**

**"Multiple Covenant signatures!"**

**"Slipspace rupture detected."**

**"Does anyone have a visual?"**

**"They're everywhere!"**

**"Slipspace rupture detected."**

**"Oh, this can't be happening!"**

**"Must be the whole damn Covenant fleet!"**

**"Slipspace rupture detected."**

**"SON OF A BITCH!!" Ruby screamed before positioning herself into a reverse dive, trying to get down to the planet surface as soon as possible.**

"Gods…" Weiss breathed, looking in shock as the heat cone began encompassing Ruby, still spewing curses into the sky. She looked faint, somehow paler than her white hair, they all did, while Ruby scowled at the floor, boring holes into the concrete floors of their bunker.

"It all amounted to nothing, Just when we thought we'd won, that all the sacrifices were not in vein, the reinforcements arrived." Ruby explained angerly, "The Fleet of Particular Justice, I belive it was called, Justice my ass." the rest of her team could only watch in horror as Ruby sped to the ground on screen, flying way to fast to have a safe landing, crashing, getting herself up, grabbing a magnum, and limping towards the nearby city, now in flames as the glow illuminated the night.


	6. Chapter 6: Exodus Pt 1

Hey guys! long time no see, been busy with alot of things and just haven't had the motivation to write lately. Moving half way across the world and starting at a new College does that to yah. Since the missions are getting longer, I've decided to split it into 2 chapters, as I try to keep it to 2k words a chapter.

updates will be slow from now on, but I just need to push through, eventually we can start working kn the main story again, and boy do I have something big planned.

In other news, I'm starting a Novel, everything is less than school atm, but I will try to keep this going despite this revalation, I don't have a name yet, but the concept is that death isnt the end for the protag, can't tell you anything other than that atm, if you feel like you have a good name, comment and I might concider it, until then, enjoy the show.

PS despite how long it took, I did enjoy this chapter

* * *

"Gods…" Weiss breathed, looking in shock as the heat cone began encompassing Ruby, still spewing curses into the sky. She looked faint, somehow paler than her white hair, they all did, while Ruby scowled at the floor, boring holes into the concrete floors of their bunker.

**As the heat-cone faded, Ruby flipped herself so that she was looking straight to the ground, pieces of the Long Night of Solace were raining down beside her, the flaming ruin, cascading as it broke apart in the now much denser atmosphere. She looked around to see snow beneath her, she let out a small sigh of relief.**

"Why did you sigh?" Weiss wondered, confused at her partner.

"A couple things about falling from a great height," Ruby began, "If your parachute fails, or you don't have one, flatten yourself out as much as possible to increase drag and slow yourself down. Then look for trees, snow, something that will break your fall, never water, any fall over 100m is most likely fatal if you land in water. You are moving too fast for the water to move out of the way in time, so it's as if you land on solid concrete."

They all cringed slightly at the prospect, "Once you are close to the ground, go feet first, you will probably break your legs, but that combined with the resistance from the snow would prevent death..."

She paused for a moment, "If you activate your aura, you may be able to avoid that entirely, but be prepared for it to be a possibility."

**As the ground accelerated towards her, she went through the motions of flattening herself out, about 100 meters above the ground, and then going feet first about 10, locking up her armour as she did so, plunging into the deep snow.**

**Groaning slightly as she pulls herself out of the snow, beholding the crashing wreckage of the Supercarrier, she grabs her arm in slight pain, and spots the Re-entry pack nearby. She limps over, taking a magnum from beside it, before giving a proper assessment of her surroundings.**

**Ruby fast forward to a more interesting part than her limping away from the wreckage.**

"Exactly how badly hurt you by that fall?" Weiss asked her partner, ever curious about the technical side of things, yet half-glaring at her partner.

"Well.., A jarred arm after it bounced off a rock in the snow, and a sprained ankle that I just walked off." The Spartan supplied, rubbing the back of her neck.

Weiss just rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the screen.

**She resumes when Ruby was on a building's rooftop, still holding her pistol, creeps beside the edge, jumps down, and staggers slightly on her injured leg. She walks past bullet holes on the wall, examining the area as she readies the pistol. Then jumping down again on to another rooftop, she lands safely on the street and looks toward the road up ahead. She starts to jog up the now abandoned plaza as her helmet picks up various com signals.**

**"This is Kilo dispatch. All available teams advance to Traxus Tower. Evacuation will commence ASAP."**

**"Copy dispatch, what's the status of the tower pad?"**

**"Tower pad is green. Let's move these civilians before it changes."**

**"Copy dispatch, Four-Zero out."**

**As Ruby enters a damaged building, and exits out the other side, she follows up one flight of stairs, before encountering some Skirmishers, they are quickly dispatched as she grabs one of their needlers and continues into another building nearby.**

**"Romeo Company, be advised. We have reports of Covenant suicide squads."**

**"You got to be kidding me.**

**"That's a negative. Keep your eyes open troopers."**

**Grunts nearby start pulling out plasma grenades and charging Ruby. she pops a bullet into each of their heads, waiting for the grenades to explode, then continuing.**

**"Kilo 26, this is Kilo 40, Covenant Corvette is raining hell on us. Final Protective Fire 1, danger close, my command. Over."**

**"Copy Kilo 40 FPF 1 at your command."**

**"Fire FPF 1, over"**

**"Firing FPF 1...Shot."**

**"Hold on to your helmets."**

**"Kilo 40, request FPF SitRep."**

**"Negative 26, Corvette still coming."**

**"Copy 40, firing FPF 2...Shot."**

**"DAMN, how do you stop that thing!?"**

**As Ruby continues to explore enters the basement and engages some Covenant troops. She disposes them down and exits the building, just in time to see civilians cower as a dropship appears at the edge of the balcony, in its hanger a huge hulking figure that looks more like bigfoot or the abominable snowman, than part of the covenant, even taller than the elites, covered in long hair and hardly any armour, roars.**

**"Help! Somebody help us!" Somebody calls out, to which Ruby wastes no time unloading an entire clip from her magnum into its head, before switching to the needler and firing at it until it explodes.**

"And that," Ruby says, a grim glare on her face, "Was a Brute." As the video paused, "They are strong enough to throw Spartans around as if they were a brick, and crush us through MJOLNIR as if it was glass. They are animalistic, even feeding on the bodies of fallen soldiers of either side, they are stupid, and powerful, thick hide and even tougher bones, I barely was able to kill it with what I did there, and that was a minor, Chieftains have armour comparable to a Zealot."

Weiss was slowly shrinking in her seat as Ruby continued to explain, "They have their own weapons, which include: spikers," She drew one of each in turn, the spiker looking like a hand cannon with blades on front, "Maulers," which looked like a handgun with a drum clip, "Spike grenades," which looked similar to a stick grenade with nails. "The brute shot." Hauling out a hefty two-handed grenade launcher with a long, curved, sharp blade along the bottom, all of these looking as if they were made of scrap, "And, the Gravity Hammer." Putting them away, she turned to her team.

"They are the ones who killed my adoptive parents, and forced me to watch them devouring their corpses, until the SPARTAN-II reinforcements arrived, barely holding them back enough to allow me to get off-world." She slowly turned to her partner, who was sweating bullets now.

"So while I realise you didn't mean to compare me to them, I would appreciate it if you refrained from using that slur to describe me."

"F-fair enough…" Weiss said in a very small voice. Ruby slowly turned back to the screen.

**"They're coming! They're after us!" Another civilian called out.**

**"Come on! Let's go!" A trooper was herding the panicking civilians to presumably a shuttle port, more brutes were terrorising the balcony.**

**"What are those things?!" An obviously new trooper called out**

**"Brutes! Move to cover!"**

**"Guys! I picked up a friendly!" Someone who saw Ruby run down the steps Exclaimed in joy.**

**"A Spartan? Where the hell did she come from?" As Ruby tackled one of the Brutes, slamming her fist into the Brutes snarling face, bashing its skull in, killing it instantly.**

**"Who cares? Spartan, assist!" Someone else called out, as if he needed to ask.**

**"Evac team 7 to Kilo 26, we have eyes on Traxus tower."**

**"Copy evac team 7. Move to assist the evac."**

**After the remaining Brutes were defeated, with considerable effort. A trooper asked a question to the group, obviously stressed.**

**"How do we get to the tower?'**

**"Elevator in the atrium goes down to the cargo port. Cargo port goes to the tower." He pointed her in the right direction as Ruby silently began to make her way to the elevator before the order could be given.**

**"Got to get in there!" The female trooper reminded her group.**

**"Contacts, to the west." One warned.**

**Ruby silently and efficiently took out the Skirmishers within half a minute, leaving a handful of Brutes, she picked up a plasma pistol overcharged it at the chieftain, a hulking mass of strong armour and stronger Brute, carrying a gravity hammer. The plasma shot broke the shields as she then exchanged it for a DMR from a fallen soldier, slowly walking towards the towering figure, well over 3ft taller than her, and fired 3 shots directly into its eye, but this appeared to just aggravate it as it roared at the silent Spartan.**

**However, as it drew close, she delivered a haymaker directly into its snout, knocking it back a step as she gripped both hands on the hammer, and used it to lift herself and kick the beast squarely in the chest with both legs, wrenching the hulking weapon from it. And them slamming it into its skull. This all happened within the space of 40 seconds, but she wasn't finished, as the remaining Brutes saw their fallen comrade and all roared, charging.**

**The Hyper-Lethal's response was to use the devastating club like one for golf. As it impacted the first monster's head, the force ripped it's head off, while the shockwave sent the companions of the charge back enough to allow her to bring it down again, using the shockwave to propel her into the air and plunge it headfirst into another, this shock flattening the head.**

**The final one snarled at Ruby, raising its spiker while ruby just used her semblance to essentially warp behind it, and hitting it square in the back obliterating the spine as the creature just crumpled into a pile on the floor. This all happened in the space of 2 minutes, and while Ruby wasn't facing them, one of the troopers let out a whistle of admiration,**

**"Remind me not to get on her bad side." Presumably, the same trooper ****said.**

The feed paused for a moment.

"Ok, now is probably the first time you can properly appreciate Spartan-time."

"Appreciate?!" Weiss practically screamed, "You just took out about a dozen Skirmishers and 4 Brutes in the span of 4 minutes!"

"Just over 3 actually-" Ruby tried to butt in, but Weiss was still rambling,

"3, 4 whatever! You destroyed all but 1 of their heads, and the only one you didn't is in a pile on the floor! What is there to appreciate?!"

"Allow me to explain," was Ruby's calm reply, as Weiss huffed, crossing her arms but with a look of disgust at the gore. "Coined by Kelly-087, the term, "Spartan-time" refers to how Spartans perceive time around them in the heat of battle. When a Spartan is under heavy stress and adrenaline, say after losing a comrade, releasing his death was in vain, sustaining injuries from falling from orbit and meeting your most hated species in existence, just as an example, because of their already almost untrackable reaction time, their perception of time slows to a crawl. They are perfectly capable of moving at a seemingly normal speed for themselves, but everything else is slow. The result is that if you were looking at a Spartan in Spartan-time, they would seem to be moving at near-impossible speeds."

"So you're saying," Blake began, "That despite your incredible one-of-a-kind speed, you display normally," Ruby nodded, "You can move even faster?"

"Yup, I was actually kinda sloppy there," she scratched the back of her neck nervously, "Was too angry to be as efficient as possible."

"Excuse me?!" Yang grinned at her sister, "You are probably better than all the teachers combined, and you call that inefficient?!"

"Yup, and I bet Ozpin would too."

"Ozpin?" Wiess asks, "Why do you think that?"

"His eyes," all of her teammates look puzzled, "I know a veteran when I see one, and Ozpin's eyes show that he's been in combat many times, more so than any other teacher we've had, and probably has more experience than me."

"But he's got to be only 20 or so years older than you." Yang began, "Maybe 25, but you were training millitiously since you were 6, that's probably when he was learning hand to hand, not everything."

"I'm not saying I can't best him in combat, but it is suspicious how experienced those eyes are, he looks older than Admiral Hood."

"Is that why you don't quite trust him?" Blake asked,

"Part of it yes." Ruby admitted, "But like I said before, he has secrets, and they're big enough that it makes me suspicious."


	7. Chapter 7 Exodus: part 2

**Whoooh! finally got back to this, sorry it took so long, but with College and sorting out boxes, any spair time I had, I just wanted to relax. I'll try to get New Alexandria done by the end of the year but no promices unfortunatly.**

* * *

**"Okay. Let's move in and find that elevator." The commanding trooper called to the team.**

**They moved to the elevator as Ruby took down the small squad of Jackals, once taken care of she follows them and calls the elevator.**

**"What the hell is taking this thing so long?!" A nervous and clearly impatient trooper asks when it doesn't arrive immediately.**

**"Uh, we're evacuating a group of civilians on the floor below you. Soon as they reach the cargo port, I'll send the elevator back up." The stacker explains over the comms.**

**"Dropships!" Another trooper cuts him off, "They're pulling into the courtyard! Watch your flanks! Okay, everyone find some cover, stay sharp. We need to hold this position."**

"Why is it every time you have to wait, the covenant show up?" Weiss asks, having recovered from Ruby's gory battle not 5 minutes earlier.

Her partner's response was a shrug, "They just do, I would say they were listening in, but we did have secure comms at this point."

**After the small legion of Covenant was taken care off, Ruby having done most of the work, the elevator finally came.**

**"Damn Lieutenant." The squad leader chuckled, "Glad you're on our side. The elevator will get you to the tower."**

**Ruby nodded and descended in the elevator. Where she was met with a cheery voice announcing: "Going down. Cargo port in Traxus Tower" in tasteless irony, given the situation.**

**"If you're trying to get into tower, you're too late Lieutenant." The Stacked from earlier told her, "Corvette over the starport pounded the hell out of the place. Cargo port is impassable on foot, roof top evacs are lost. We can use the executive landing pad except there's no easy way to get there. A group of ODST specialists are working a plan. They might appreciate some back-up."**

**"I'll see what I can do," She replied, as the doors opened.**

**"On the other side of the hall there, Lieutenant." A trooper greeted her as she walked out, "By the triage."**

**She nods and walks past some wounded civilians and out the door. There she sees a small squad of ODSTs, with bulky jetpacks strapped behind them.**

**"Radio's buzzing about you Spartan. You feel like jumping?" One calls out to her as she looks around their makeshift armoury, stocking up on ammo, and picking up a jetpack of her own.**

**"I could give it a shot," she retorts, strapping it on.**

**"In that case, welcome to the Bullfrogs." he nods at her Other side, on my mark. 3,2,1, jump!"**

**The squad began crossing the ravine of scrap metal, jumping to the few bits of catwalk still standing, Ruby manages to almost leap the first gap, having to use her jet pack for about a foot, landing beside the squad leader.**

**"We're gonna capture the landing pad on the executive wing so the evac birds can land." he explained, "Try and keep up Spartan."**

**Ruby snorted as she bounded over them, jumping from platform to platform, overtaking them with ease and starting to take out the Jackals and grunts on the other side of the gap**

**"Death from above!" One hollars as he lands on a grunt's face. Ruby was already moving up the stairs and confronting the brutes waiting up there, using her gravity hammer to send them and any nearby Covenant flying.**

**"Head up to the roof level, Spartan, we'll cover yah!" One ODST called out to her**

**"On it," she affirmed, running up to the corridor leading to the roof**

**"There's the pad, get to that tower." One of the ODSTs called out to her,**

**"Other side, other side! Entrance is on the other side!" Another yelled, Ruby turned round to see the now open doors with an ODST standing near them, waving at her. She makes no hesitation to leap the gap and cross the rest of it with her jet pack, as there ODST ran through, calling her on with him.**

**She helps the group of ODSTs, troopers and Civilians to slowly advance up the building, towards the launch pad, felling Covenant every which way, eventually taking down the chieftains and two shade turrets at the summit, but not without losses.**

**"Yankee Niner to dispatch. Landing pad is clear, send in the evac birds."**

**"Copy Yankee Niner. Birds away."**

**"Pleasure jumping with you Spartan." One of the ODSTs salutes as two Falcons and a Pelican show up**

**"Likewise, Hellijumper," Ruby replies fondly**

**"This is your ride Spartan." He gestures to the Falcon, she nods and sits in the free Gunner's seat**

**"Welcome aboard Spartan," the Pilot calls to her over comms, "City's been under siege for the last five days. Though we had it in hand, then those Corvettes showed up, then our fleet scattered. Pull 'em back. No, we all got orders to evacuate. Guess some of us just don't like leaving a job half-finished."**

**Ruby chuckled as she replied, "Never half-ass a job, you pay the price otherwise,"**

**"Damn right there Lieutenant."**

**"Evac transport Delta 15 to evac dispatch. Loaded up, ready to go."**

**"Delta 15, this is evac dispatch. Copy that. Proceed at your digression."**

**"Midtown airspace is way too hot. Gonna take an alternate route." The pilot called out, to her crew.**

**"Delta 15 to dispatch. Banshee squadron on my tail. Taking fire."**

**"Copy Delta 15. Can you-"**

**"Mayday! Port engines hit! We're going in! I'm going to try to set her down."**

**The Falcon flies over rooftops, where Troopers are engaging Covenant hostiles. Ruby puts the Gun to good use by pelting the Covenant below as Falcon flies lower, over the coastline, next to a building where more Troopers are engaging Wraiths. Ruby mamagss to bow one up as they fly overhead, while taking down some infantry.**

**"Fox Actual to UNSC frigate Starward Dawn. Request immediate airstrike on Covenant Corvette over starport."**

**"Solid copy Fox Actual. Longswords are unavailable at this time, over."**

**"This is civilian transport 6 Echo 2. I need to go now Sergeant Major."**

**"Hold on Echo 2. Stalwart Dawn, I have multiple person craft loaded with civilians. I have got to get them out of this city. I need air support, now."**

**"As soon as greens up, you'll be the first two-"**

**"Not good enough."**

**"I've got six hundred souls on board Sergeant Major. I can't wait any longer."**

**"Negative Echo 2. I can't cover you. Do not take off."**

**As the Falcon gets closer to the airport, they notice the transport taking off. A plasma bolt from the Corvette lands on the airport, followed by another one that hits the transport.**

"Gods," Weiss shudders, "No matter how many times I see it, why would they do such a thing?"

"No Idea," Ruby grimaces, "Not one that gives a proper explanation anyway."

**"Oh my god!"**

**"Mayday! Mayday!"**

**"6 Echo 2. Can you maintain altitude?"**

**"Negative! We're going down!"**

**"Son of a bitch! I can't watch this." The pilot Grimaces as they continue flying, Ruby watched the transport crash into the water, sinking beneath the waves.**

**"Fox Actual... should we send search and rescue birds?"**

**"Negative dispatch. No point."**

"What does he mean no point?!" Yang almost yells, "It was a glancing blow, there could be survivors!"

"That may be, but how much resources do you think they can waist when there are still a magnitude of lives on the line?" Ruby shoots back, "Unfortunately, in cases like these, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"How can you say that?!" Yang looked disgusted, to which Ruby glared at her sister, causing her to flinch.

"When faced with extinction, everything is a better alternative." Was all she said as she turned back to the screen.

**The Falcon approaches a small beach, where two missile batteries are unarmed. As it lands at Duvall's spot, where a small squad of Covenant tries to get rid of the troopers, Ruby just uses the Turret to Obliterate them.**

**"Spartan!" The Sergeant began, "Sergeant Major Duvall. How's the day so far? Just keeps getting worse, huh?"**

**"Tell me about it,"**

**"Covies are all over the missile batteries and I got five thousand civilians waiting. I need you to arm those batteries and fire those missiles from the central terminal. Understood? Corvette's been a pain in my ass for too long, give it hell Spartan."**

**"Consider it done," Ruby replies as she steps out, and immediately goes towards the covenant ahead.**

**As she and the Troopers advance to the beach, Ruby, taking out the Ghost that tried to ram her, by timing her jump so that she kicked the poor Grunt off, as she hijacked it, and used it to get to the first Battery, flattening Covenant In her way.**

**"Civilian transport 7 Echo 3 to Fox Actual. My engines are hot. Waiting for your go."**

**"Copy that 7 Echo 3. We're working on it." Durval replied, as Ruby activated the Battery.**

**"First battery is armed!"**

**"This is 7 Echo 3, I need to go now!"**

**"Easy 7 Echo 3. Spartan's going to clear the skies."**

**Skillfully using the momentum of the Ghost's boost, Ruby plants herself on one of the Wraiths, Yanking out the Brute in the gunner seat, sticking a couple grenade to him and kicking him off the tank. She then got into the gunner's seat and started firing upon the second Wraith, while both stood there almost frozen.**

"Umm, why aren't they shooting you?" Weiss asks, confused.

"Don't want to harm the tank," Ruby replied, "It's still piloted by a Covenant trooper, so they don't want to fire on it, it's quite silly if you think about it because it does allow for stunts like this."

**Just as she said that, the opposing Wraith was engulfed in a purple explosion, and Ruby got out of her Wraith before planting a couple grenades on it, and jumping off, hightailing it to the other Battery.**

**The Wraith exploded as Ruby found herself face to face with a squad of Brutes.**

**"Should've kept that Ghost," she muttered to herself, before firing at the closest minor, all of them opening fire on her, but she weaved in and out of their fire, semblance in full use, and once the Gravity hammer was out of the Brute that was carrying its hands, she slammed it down, knocking the rest of them back, as they were killed from the shockwave. She then ran over to the Battery and armed it.**

**"That's it! Batteries primed! Now get over to the East Compacts and fire those missiles!" Duvall Urged her.**

**"Sergeant Major! The Covies are almost through my door!"**

**"Steady Echo 3! That Corvette is still up there!"**

**Now with a greater sense of Urgency, Ruby used her semblance to speed up to the building to fire the missiles, using her knife to butcher any opposition to her charge.**

**At the top, there were a group of Brute Chieftains waiting for her. She saw this on her way up, and readied the hammer, and with the full force of a Spartan swing, combined with the momentum of a semblance, they were slammed on top of each other and splattered against the wall.**

"Eugh," WBY collectively groaned at the sight.

"I will admit, that was a bit brutal, but I didn't have much time to spare." Ruby replied sympathetically.

**"That's it! They've breached the landing bay!" The transport alerted as Ruby rushed into the room with a table and an open case with a button on it, and pressed it.**

**"Copy that. It's now or never Spartan."**

**"Missiles online!" She announced, as she Heard Duvall give a sigh of relief.**

**"Missile defence online. All evac transports, you are cleared for takeoff! Repeat, you are clear for takeoff! Go, now!"**

**Ruby watched from where she stood as six missiles shoot up into the sky, aiming for the corvette. The missiles hit the corvette as a civilian transport flies overhead, and the Covenant ship was helpless to stop it as its flaming wreck descended into the bay.**

**"Civilian transports away. You saved a lot of lives today, Spartan."**

**"I aim to please," She replied, as she**

**walks to a cliff overlooking the ships as they fly away and into space.**

**A moment passes before static comes in her Comms.**

**"...you copy?" Kat's voice came through the static, "Repeat, this is Noble Two. Noble Six, Noble Five, do you copy?"**

**"This is Six. Go ahead, Noble Two." Was Ruby's reply**

**"We picked up your transponder about an hour ago, but could not risk open comms. Covenant have this city sealed tight. We're getting nothing from Jorge." She explained,**

**"He... Didn't make it."**

**"...Understood... What's the situation at starport exit?"**

**"The last transport is away."**

**"Alright. We're bringing you to us."**

**Ruby takes one last look at the damaged Corvette, before lighting a flair, tossing it to the ground and going back a safe distance to wait for her ride.**

"You weren't really given any time to mourn were you?" Blake asks her leader.

She shrugs,

"Sometimes that's just how things are, we had a planet to try and either save or evacuate, we couldn't afford the time to mourn, not while lives were at stake."

"So you were just expected to carry on as if nothing happened??" Weiss asked, astounded,

"That's how we were trained yeah," Ruby replied, "We got downtime between missions, we used that to grieve in our own ways, and we'd get frequent psychological checkups to see if we were still fit for duty or needed some more time, but overall, yes." Her team just stared at her as she continued, "We were the Sword and Shield for humanity, if we had a visible crack, the rest of the human race would see it as a great chasm, and fall into despair, we had to stay strong and shoulder the burden of our dead brothers and sisters."

And while none of the showed it, each of the members of WBY felt sympathetic for their leader, wishing they could ease that burden for her, somehow.


	8. Chapter 8: New Alexandria

**OK a couple of things to mention here: First of all, I noticed a video about a scaling issue with UNSC ships by Insallation 00, I suggest watching it if you have the oppertunity, but it is baslically saying that all UNSC ships would be about 2.6 times bigger, if I remeber correctly. This of course brings up the question, do I keep the canonical quoted size or go with this new scaleing thing? I want your guys' opinion on that.**

**Second, I'm changing Ruby's armour slightly, different chesplate and shoulder pads, after I publish this, I'm going to be making the neccisary changes to the main story, I just feel like these would be more 'Ruby' so to speek.**

**Finally, This story is baised off of GreentheRyno's which has Summer return in it, Do people want that here also? I've been toying with the idea, and I'm not sure If I want it or not, so, I'll do what you guys want.**

**Ok this is a long enough intro as it is, so New Alexandria, I would have had the whole mission in, but I couldn't find the transcripts for the second and third parts, so, I skipped them, It still makes up it with other Dialogue, but I wasn't going to sit and write line by line from a playthrough.**

* * *

**Ruby sat looking out of the pelican troop bay, watching the burning city around her as she got dropped off at a landing pad, Carter looking at her as she stepped off.**

**"Your report will have to wait, Lieutenant." He began, "The Covenant are jamming all comms to Command. Kat needs your help running a counter-op."**

**"Sir, I'll get it done." Was her short reply, as they walked up to a pair of falcons, one taking off While the pair stopped in front of the other.**

**"It's good to have you back."**

**"Sorry I came alone."**

**"Make him proud."**

**He turned and walked away as Ruby got into the Falcon.**

**"Get your wings back on, Lieutenant. You're flying this Falcon." Kat came over the coms**

**"Missed you too," Ruby retorted dryly,**

**"Sorry, Red, but this occupation isn't the best social environment. Covenant have deployed comm jammers at the highrises across the city. When I find them, you hit them. Hard."**

**"Ready when you are,"**

**"Stand-by Red. One of our Trooper squads went silent after the hospital got hit. I'll mark the location. Complete objective, and take out that jammer."**

**Ruby immediately took off and headed towards the waypoint given to her, a hospital in flames.**

**Upon entering, she takes out the small squad of Grunts by the door, and the Engineer floating in the middle of the room. She fights her way down the stairs before hearing the troopers call out to her**

**"Contacts! Two at ten'o'clock. I'll hold them off until you get to the other side!"**

**"Move that door away! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"**

**After reaching the base of the stairwell, taking out the squads as she went, she could see the troopers at the end of a long hallway, trying to take out a pack of Brutes guarding the Jammer.**

**"More Brutes! Stay back, you stinking bastards!"**

**She fought her way through the Brutes, taking them out 1 by 1 from afar, the Troopers wounded, but still going strong, trying to assist.**

**"I said back off, you nasty son of a bitch!"**

**After the Brutes were Dealt with, Ruby met up with the surviving troopers, guarding what must have been the jammer, giving the energy pulse it gave off every now and then.**

**"Thanks for the assist Spartan. Jammer's right over here."**

**"Don't mention it, Just make sure you get out of the mess in one piece."**

**"We'll try my best ma'am,"**

**She overloaded the jammer and quickly turned to head back to the Falcon, when Kat called over the coms.**

**"Noble Two to Noble Six. I'm showing a hospital jammer offline. Nice work. Soon as you can, I need you back in your Falcon."**

**"Way ahead of yah Kattie,"**

**But as she started again, thrusters echoed through the corridors, as several Jet-jumper Elites raced down to meet them and opened fire**

**"Noble Two to Noble Six. You've got incoming tangos!" Kat tried to warn her**

**"I noticed!" Ruby spat through Gritted teeth as she quickly engaged them, Utilising her semblance to dodge and weave through plasma fire and obstacles.**

**It took a while, but eventually they all fell, including the squad that had remained in the stairwell.**

**"Ma'am, what was that?" One of the troopers asked amazed at her semblance,**

**"Something best kept a secret marine," she replied, "Don't want you to get outta here only to have ONI down your necks,"**

**"Sir, yes sir, not a word." She replied, "We're good here, thanks to you, you can get back to your bird"**

**She nodded and headed upstairs to the Falcon again, somehow, not destroyed by the Covenant.**

As the Falcon took off, Ruby turned to the rest of her team, who turned to her in return as she said,

"I'll admit the mission is quite tedious, hopping from Relay to Relay throughout the City, there's nothing much there, So we can watch it if you want or skip to the next relevant part while I can answer the question undoubtedly on your minds right now."

WBY all took a look at each other before nodding at her to skip, and answer. Ruby nodded back and fast forward to a point where she got off the Falcon and met up with Noble in Olympic Tower.

"So, ONI wanted to keep my Semblance and Aura a secret, since, it was an obvious advantage, and they didn't want the Covenant to find out. I had my training with it done in top secret, and everyone who knew about it was kept under strict obervation, because they could be captured and Integrated.

Noble knows of it because, they were my team, and every Spartan With MJOLNIR knows that if they get captured, and see no way of escape, are supposed to detonate themselves to not let information follow into enemy hands, every suit can have its Fusion batteries overloaded and basically become a Fusion bomb," horrified looks came across her team's faces.

"It may sound unnecessary, but remember, Spartans are the Culmination of everything in the Human Race, their knowledge on battle strategy, key locations and combat prowess alone make them invaluable."

"Still," Weiss began to protest, "Why do that? It seems… unnecessary," she tried to think of the way to describe it properly, but couldn't.

"Again, ONI is messed up, I am kinda glad I never have to report to them again.

Strictly speaking I should have killed those marines on the spot since I showed them my semblance, but there were more pressing matters at the time."

"Ok yeah, I am _really_ glad your home sis," Yang replied, shuddering.

"As am I. Now, shall we continue?"

Her team nodded

**Insde the Olympic Tower, Ruby joined up with the rest of Noble Team. Kat was fixing a comm unit, with her helmet on the floor. Jun looking out with a pair of binoculars. Emile sat at the side, sharpening his kukri, and Carter standing against the far wall.**

**"Look at this place." Jun said with melancholy, "Used to be the crown jewel... Not anymore." He turned round to Ruby, "Hey, you made it."**

**"It's a regular family reunion." Emile chuckled,**

**Ruby looked at him and loosened hand to show Jorge's dog tags dangling from it, offering them to the team.**

**"Keep 'em. He gave them to you." Emile replied, before gesturing to himself with the knife "I'll honor him my own way."**

**"Jorge always said he would never leave Reach." Jun added, again melacholic, as Emile laughed.**

**"The big man was sentimental..."**

**"He gave his life thinking he just saved the planet." Carter cut in, venom clear "We should all be so lucky."**

**He walks walks toward the window, beside Jun.**

**"Sir, that true about Gauntlet, Red and Echo Teams assigned to civilian evac ops?" The sniper asked their team leader**

**Carter turns to Kat, with a look that said he knew she was responsible for the leak.**

**"Those are senior-level communiques..." he began,**

**"I hear what I hear." Was her reply, "Point is, why put Spartans on defensive deployments?"**

**"I need that link to SATCOM, Kat."**

**"Chasing it, but this comm has more shrapnel than transceivers... You didn't answer my question."**

**"You want to know if we're losing?"**

**"I know we're losing! I just want to know if we've lost."**

**Carter looks out to the city grimacing when beeping breaks the silence.**

**"Colonel Holland. Hailing us! Kat explains, What is he doing on an open channel?"**

**"Let's hear it." Carter nods, as static comes through, the voice kr Holland filters in**

**"-near the southwest quadrant of the city, over? Sierra Two-Five-Nine, if you are receiving, I am authorizing override of radio security protocols to link with this channel."**

**"How long for a secure link?" Carter asks**

**"I can't guarantee secure anymore."**

**"Could the Covenant trace it to us?"**

**"I could."**

**"Noble Leader, this is a Priority One hail. If you are receiving, acknowledge immediately."**

**Kat hands Carter the communicator.**

**"Keep it brief." He takes it up and walks back towards the window**

**"Carter here... Yes, sir."**

**Jun noticed something through his binoculars, and leans forward, eyes narrowing,**

**"We've got movement. Multiple Covenant vehicles vacating the area...and they're in a hurry."**

**"How often do you see Covenant retreat for no reason?" Emile asks, sitting up**

**"Radiation flare! Big! Forty million roentgens!" Kat notifies the team as Carted discards the communicator**

**"Just lost Holland. What's going on?"**

**"Atomic excitement scrambled the signal. Ninety million now!"**

**"Source?"**

**"Airborne. Close!"**

**"How close?"**

**An explosion shars the building as a bright red energy beam takes up the view from the now glassless window, the shockwave knocking everyone off their feet and scrambles the sheilds of everyone.**

**"That close!" Kat yelled over the blast as everyone got to their feet, putting on helmets and running towards the Elevators.**

**Carter Emile and Jun took one while Kat and Ruby took the other one. Kat slams the elevator button and starts it. The elevators rush down the building as Kat put on her helmet.**

**"First glassing?" She asked,**

**"This close," was Ruby's reply,**

**"Me too. Don't worry, I'm on it. Our best option is a fallout bunker in Sublevel 2. Ninety-six metres northeast. We get orders from Holland, sir?"**

**"We're being redeployed to Sword Base."**

**"Sword?!" Jun protested, "Covenant own it now!"**

**"Which is why they want us for a torch and burn op. Keep Dr. Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands."**

**They could see they guys' elevator reach the bottom and rushing out,**

**"If it hasn't already." Kat replied as their elevator reached the ground.**

**As soon as the doors opened, the two Spartans sprinted after their team mates, who had reached the bunker.**

**"Maybe, but according to Holland, the Covenant are still hunting for something."**

**They urge Ruby and Kat to the door,**

**"When does he get off calling a demolition op Priority One-"**

**Kat gets cut off as the sound of a needle hitting pierces the air, even to WBY everything happens in slow motion, as Ruby turns to see Kat falling to the floor, a neat hole through her helmet and visor. She yells out as she grabs Kat's corpse, drawing her pistol and rasing to the Zealot with a Needle rifle, standing on the edge of a Phantom bay door.**

**Her hand snaps up to its head, as she unloads the clip, and even though her outside comms are off she's cursing at the elite with every shot. The others join in as they begin to fire on the Elite, as the last shot Ruby has breaks its shield, it retreats into the Phantom and Ruby tosses the now empty magnum aside, now dragging Kat's body to the bunker.**

**"Come on! Come on! Get in!" Carter urges**

**Jun joins in "Let's go, come on!"**

**"Close the doors! Faster!" A terrified Civilian calls out as the body is dragged in and the doors close, it catches on Kat's boot for a moment before brushing passed**

**As the panicked works of the civilians are slowly calmed down by Emile, Carter and Jun, While Ruby just stares at the corpse of her fallen sister, oblivious to it all.**

"You know, there's a protocol where Spartans are never declared dead, always MIA or Missing in Action, it's supposed to keep morale up in troops and the general public," Ruby began chuckling sadly, "It was pretty hard to keep that to the people in the bunker there, after 3 days, our excuse of 'once we get outta here the medics will patch her right up' wasn't exactly holding up."

"3 days?!" Weiss gasped,

"That's how long it took the Covenant left the ruins of the city."

It was dark when the door opened, but still bright as the torched ground was still red hot, and the skyscrapers left standing, still on fire. led by Jun, the team walked out out to the destroyed city. Kat's body in Carter's hands.

Jun threw a signal flare to the ground, and waved to a Pelican slowly approaching them for extraction.

Ruby stops it there, and as the rest of her team look up to her, they all realise the memories are taking their toll.

"You ok sis?" Yang asks, putting an arm on Ruby's shoulder.

Her face reforms into her calm mask almost instantly, though her eyes are still a little glassy

"Yeah, I'm fine, just got some dust in my eye." Though the whole team knew it was a lie, if they didn't know her, or had just seen her, they wouldn't have suspected a thing. "She was the only survivor of Beta Company, aside from me, all the rest of them died in Project TORPEDO," she explained, "A suicide mission to gain a little ground on the Covenant."

Again she said it with an unnatural calm for someone who was just on the verge of tears.

"So you basically lost your only family there…" Blake surmised, having seen the exact sort of thing with numerous Faunus in the white fang.

"Kind of, yeah… But now I have you guys," she looked up with a small smile, "Anyway, we should continue, there's not much left now."


	9. Chapter 9: The Package

**So! one final chapter before the new semester starts, and 2 chapter left of the story! Not long now before I will get back to work on the main story, and you can be relieved by the cliffhanger I left you on almost a year ago now.**

**Exciting right?**

**Well I plan to get a job soon into the semester, so unfortunatly, with school, general life stuff (such a pain I know), and now work, updates will be quite slow, but who am I kidding, once a month or sometimes every few months isn't exactly a good update speed anyway. I will try to make updates more regular, now that we have settled into some semblance of routine, so we'll see how it goes.**

* * *

**Ruby watched as a pair of Falcons flew overhead, she herself making her way on foot, as Holland and Carter communed over coms,**

**"Noble One, this is Noble Actual. Noble One?"**

**"Go ahead."**

**"We need that base taken out, son. What's your status?"**

**"Still outside. Thermal on the interior shows standing-room-only. We're gonna send 'em out or we'll be way too popular."**

**"Copy that, Noble One. Holland out."**

**As the conversation ends, Ruby vaults over a ledge, nodding at a few ODSTs before taking charge and walking ahead slightly before waiting for something.**

**"We've got a job to do, so let's stay focused and get it done. Six, are you in position?" Carter addressed the other 3 remaining members of Noble Team, and Ruby specifically.**

**"Affirmative." Was her curt reply**,

**"Good. Execute."**

**The small group headed out towards a small outpost on the shore, swarming with Covenant.**

**"Covenant own this sector now." Carter explained, "But they are defending for a full major strike, not a small-group infiltration. Eliminate all hostile anti-air defence so the rest of Noble can land at Sword Base for the torch and burn. Keep a low profile, we'll take them by surprise, this will be a hell of a lot easier."**

**"Spartan, we'll follow you." One of the ODSTs told Ruby, as she scouted out the outpost with her DMR, prioritising targets.** **And then eliminated them swiftly and efficiently, starting with the snipers in a tower outpost, then turrets, the Ghost pilot, and ground troops, all fell without a clue where their assailants came from.**

**As the small strike team made their way up the hill, a large tank could be seen hiding behind a bluff and out of the way for another outpost tower.**

**"Scorpion here? Jackpot!" Ruby chuckled to herself,**

"I thought Carter wanted you to go in stealthily," Weiss pointed out.

Ruby smiled at her teammate's statement, and the memory before replying,

"It's still stealth if no-one is alive to report you." She laughed at the looks her teammates gave her for that.

**After getting into the Scorpion, the outpost and nearby Ghosts were made short work with the shells slugged by the Scorpion, as the tank advanced slowly, unperturbed.**

**"Got a Couple AA guns ahead, Six." Carter called to her, "Air support could use a little assistance."**

**"Consider them gone Commander," Ruby replied as her tank rounded a corner and saw the first of the guns insight.** **She stopped there and fired on if from a distance, taking it out within 10 shots, a little further forward and the second fell in much the same way.**

**As the falcons previously pinned by the AA guns flew in, combined with the Scorpion bulldozing its way through, the ground troops fell like lambs to a slaughter, and Ruby and the 3 ODSTs advanced, cheering all the while in payback for their planet.**

**"Noble Team: Falcons landed, hostiles engaged. Jun is working on getting the gate open." Carter announced as Ruby took out some more Ghosts and a Revenant.**

**"Really missing Kat about now..." Jun lamented,**

**"Aren't we all?" Ruby piped in, more melancholic than usual, but pushed on. She took out the Fuel Rod turrets, and Revenants without a word after that, slowly advancing towards the gate to SWORD Base.**

**"Got it. Gate's opened, boss." June called out as Ruby pulled up.**

**"Red, get over here! Covvie's all over the base." Carter ordered, just as Ruby gets through,**

**"I'm here, I'm here," she replied, emphasizing this by taking out an Elite and helping Noble team push through the courtyard.**

**"Just in time, Red," Emile called out,**

**"Kill them all, Noble!" Carter ordered, though it was unnecessary.****After the Courtyard was clear thy went inside, to find the door jammed,**

**"Door's sealed," Carter told them, "Have to take the maintenance tunnels, Red, take point."**

**They proceeded, and Ruby took out all opposition swiftly and efficiently as the made their way through the ruined base and to the coordinates provided.**

**"Where we going now, boss?" Jun asked as they went through an empty room and a large door.**

**"Dot?"**

**"Please proceed to the prearranged coordinates."**

**"Cryptic..."** **Emile muttered,**

**"You know as much as I do, Noble Four." Ruby barely held back a snort at the sass the monotone voice gave the skull helmeted Spartan.** **The door opened, and the team continued into Sword Base's main atrium.**

**"Coordinates nearby, Commander." Dot informed,**

**"Alright, up the ramp, to the right!"****The team took out all the forces there, including an engineer, some Spec-ops Elites, and advanced.**

**"Report: all clear," Jun confirmed as they made their way forward.****As continues to the coordinates. They come across a door with the ONI emblem on it.**

**"This is it," Carter tells the team, "In here."** **Inside was a ruin of corpses, sandbag piles, and weapons strewn all over the floor.**

**"Looks like they got themselves cornered," Jun noted, as they made their way over the pile of bodies.**

**"Or they were committed to the position." Carter countered.****Emile takes point as they continue to a dead end of the room.**

**"I'm going with cornered." He says, "There's nothing here."**

**"No load-bearing columns either." Jun adds, "Sir, if we're supposed to blow this place, this ain't the spot to do it from.**

**"****Carter checks his TACPAD for the correct coordinates.****"Dot, check your vector."**

**"Vector confirmed. Commander, we are precisely where ONI has directed-" she cuts herself off, before continuing a second later, "Apologies. Coordinates revised. Please confirm?"**

**"Revised...?" Carter questioned, A vector point appeared on Ruby's HUD, pointing far off to the east and down, very far down.**

**"By an AI of unknown origin, whose clearance is well above mine." Dot clarified,**

**"Well, it's pointing us a click and a half east and two thousand feet underground," Jun stated the obvious, and with the silent question of how.**

**"I didn't bring my shovel, Commander." Emile quipped,**

**"Sir, I say we go AI free on this one." Jun suggested, "Obviously, these coordinates are junk, and the longer we go chasing them-"**

**A sudden grinding noise cuts Jun's sentence off. A wall in the dead-end opened, revealing a secret passage, off into the darkness.**

**"What is this, Dot?" Carter asked, gun still trained on the doorway.**

**"Our revised route, Commander."**

**"Alright, we came this far."**

**He signalled for Jun to take point, and the rest of the team follow them into the hidden corridor. They continue down the tunnel and find a tram. And upon entering, the doors close and it begins to move.**

**"Your new AI friend tell you anything else, Dot...?" Carter asks, but is met with silence, "Dot?"**

**"She's been expecting you."**

**"That's perfect." Emile almost groans.**

**A screen at the front switches on and Halsey's face greets the Spartans,**

**"Apologies for the unusual security measures, Commander. But the stakes demand it." She says, in the same matter-of-fact tone as last time.**

**"Dr Halsey." Carter begins, "Casualty reports have you listed as-" but he is cut off.**

**"Yes. Well, as they say, news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. I only wish the same could be said of the rest of Noble Team."**

**"We all do, ma'am."**

**"It may please you to learn the data module Noble Two procure from the Viseguard station contained precisely what my scientist promised: A Latch-Key discovery. It has unlocked, at last, the secrets of this excavation."**

**"Not sure I understand."**

**"Your orders were a pretext to bring you to me and have been overridden. You are here, Team Noble, to assure the delivery of this vital data to a secure location."**

**"Doctor, our orders are to destroy all sensitive material-"**

**"Others will handle the demolition."**

**"I'll need to confirm this new directive with command-"**

**"Colonel Holland will be briefed. You belong to ONI now." She turns away and the screen fades off.**

Yang scoffs at this, "I can see why you don't like ONI sis, this screams aaall kinds of shady."

Ruby laughs at that.

"You think this is shady, you should look at what the different sects of ONI do to each other!"

"What, what do they do?" Blake asks, confused.

"Well with 4 divisions, only knowing for sure that they themselves exist, all telling lies to each other about what they do, and all lying HIGHCOM that they are the most powerful force in Humanity, you couldn't exactly call them a happy family."

"And you know this for sure how?" Weiss asks, sceptical of this claim.

"Being the personal Grim Reaper of CINCONI, you overhear many things, I pieced this together over many meetings, and managed to not get brutally tortured and killed because of my prowess as an assassin and the skin of my teeth."

A shiver ran down the spine of everyone there at that. And it was not helped by Ruby adding, "I was told on many occasions that the Chief was too famous at that point to fit in my role, and that was why I was there."

**By now, the Tram was descending into a massive cave beneath the Glacier encompassing SWORD, a massive silver structure is half frozen within the ice, blue highlighting stirps still lit despite its obvious age.**

**"Before you is an alien artefact neither human or Covenant in origin. Advanced beyond our comprehension...until now. Thanks to Noble Two, the decryption of its data is nearly complete."**

**A Crumbling sound rings out as the team watch a few boulders of ice collapse from the ceiling.**

**"Whatever we're doing down here, we better do it quick," Emile mutters.**

**"Have your data ready, ma'am." Carter told Halsey, "We're coming to you."**

**"The decrypting data is still underway..." She responds, slightly angry,**

**"I don't think you understand. We're out of time. If it isn't portable when we reach you, it's gonna get buried."**

**"Bury any of it, and you bury mankind's best chance of survival!" She snaps, before taking a second to calm herself,** **"Commander, you've been wondering what your Spartans died for? They died for this. Please. Buy me all the time you can."**

**The elevator door opened, And Noble Team steps out.**

**"Let's find Halsey's lab. Move!" Carter orders as the team scout out the area in the cave that they were, Ruby looked at the four cylinders on her way up to the main building**.

**"Commander, I am seeing turrets already in defensive positions," Jun informs Carter, going off what Ruby had suspected.**

**"ONI was expecting company?" Emile asks**.

**Almost on cue, a couple of Phantoms made their way through the ice, and started making their way towards the base.**

**"They sure as hell got it. Doctor, we have hostiles inbound." Carter called out, reading for battle.**

**"Spartans, you cannot allow the Covenant to break through the door to my lab," Halsey ordered, though it was pretty much a given.**

**"Understood. Let's give the doctor the time she needs Noble."****Ruby was already on it, using her semblance to quickly run around, activating the turrets, even as an ONI officer talked to them about said turrets,**

**"Noble**** Team, there are four defence turrets to assist you in defending the lab. Get them online, and quick! When the turrets take too much damage, they'll shut down to recharge. You'll need to reactivate them when they come back online."**

**As she reached the base again, she noticed the stockpile of weapons, grenade launchers, DMRs, magnums, ARs, and one long, blocky gun that seemed to be shoulder carried.**

**"Oh yes," Ruby exclaimed, picking one up, "Trust ONI to have all the cool toys."**

"And that would be..?" Weiss asks her partner, obviously not enamoured by the hunk of metal,

"The W/AV M6 G/GNR, or more commonly known as the Spartan Laser, it the most powerful, and most expensive small arms weapon within the UNSC, costing roughly 218,000 credits, or four fully armed warthogs."

"Jeez, that's a lot," Yang reeled at that statistic.

**The Dropships landed far away from them, planning for a distance assault.**

**"They are landing out of range, across the bridge!" Emile stated, more for Halsey than his teammates.**

**"I need more time. Whatever you do, do it."****Ruby had to switch back to a more manageable weapon to take out the onslaught of Covenant that approached them, all of them falling to the bark of her DMR, as Emile took a grenade launcher, seeing as a Shotgun was rather useless at that range.**

**Another pair of dropships descended through the ice, carrying Wraiths with them.**

**"And I get to use it and not be 'a waste of resources?!' This is my lucky day!" Ruby called out in joy, before restocking on ammo for the DMR, and using her semblance to zoom up to the Wraiths, taking out any opposition along the way.**

**Stopping at a good distance away, she lined them up, one right behind the other, took aim, and a small laser began flashing on the first, followed shortly by a massive burst of red light, eliminating both in one shot.**

"Yeah, Spartan Lasers are strong." Ruby just smiled at her teammates' expressions.

**On her way back, more Phantoms were dropping in more troops, including a Ghost, and some Banshees, shortly behind them.**

**"Heads up, we got more trouble!" Jun warned.**

**"Hold on, Spartans. I'm getting close." Halsey let them know, as Ruby came face to face with the Ghost.**

**It started charging her before she could do anything, so she quickly locked up her armour. And while the view was obscured, the explosion and the fact that it disappeared from her motion tracker, was an indication as to what happened.**

**"Love doing that," Ruby said to herself as she got up, rolling her shoulders and speeding past the wreckage of the Ghost.**

A**fter making it back, and helping the rest of Noble defend off this new wave, another Phantom burst through the ceiling to join the assault.**

**"Another Phantom! Dropping troops to flank us!" Emile announced, as June stared into the air at the banshees overhead.**

**"Maybe we can grab a Banshee and bring the fight to them."**

**"Good idea!" Ruby replied as she picked up a plasma pistol, overcharged it and ran at a Banshee using the EMP as an opportunity to grab the elite and drag it out of the cockpit, and climbing in herself.**

**"Package is almost ready. Just a little more." Halsey let them know, as Ruby used the Banshee, first to take out the others, and then the ground troops. At this point, however, Warning signals were going off and the sound of fire told Ruby that it was in very bad condition, she leapt from the vehicle just as it exploded, and used her semblance to get down safely. Just as the newest Phantoms dropped a pair of Hunters beside her, along with a slew of more troops, led by an Elite general.**

**"We'll cover you Red," Carter called out, "Just focus on those hunters!"**

**"Got it!" The growl of the hunters was loud as the first one came charging at Ruby, the other, not far behind.**b**She had to use her semblance to dodge weave and at one point the feed went black and came back on as she was now behind one.**

"Huh…" Ruby muttered, I wondered how it would show that."

"Show what?" Yang asked, "What happened there?"

"Well, My semblance allows me to do 2 things, I can use the rose petals to give me a burst of speed, or, actually transform into the petals, and split and go around objects, reforming at the end."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, it puzzled the spooks for ages how I could somehow get the deconstruction and reassembly right every time, considering when they tried to scan me in that state, I was just a bunch of rose petals. Still not sure if they have a proper explanation."

**As the battle continued, she managed to charge up the Laser as she did so, taking out one with a direct shot to the back.****Its bond brother did not like this as it's growls grew fiercer and it's movements more erratic, luckily for Ruby, this made it easier to dodge and line up the next shot on it.**

**The laser was now out of ammo, so she dropped it and turned back to the facility gate, where Noble were just finishing up, the General was all that remained. With a quick burst of her semblance, she got behind it, hit its ankle, forcing it to the ground, and then jumped on its skull, before jumping off again.**

**"All clear." She said casually as Noble relaxed.**

**"Well done, Spartans. I am opening the laboratory door."**

**As they walked inside the team came into a small lab with screens about the place, some depicting Noble team, and some with filtering information, then, as they looked up, a sphere of light with dozens of cables hooked up to it, outside the viewing window. Halsey was walking about the lab, fiddling with keyboards and different buttons.**

**"What is this stuff?" Emile asked, looking up at the sphere.**

**"Knowledge." She said as she paced, "A birthright from an ancient civilization. This AI is its custodian, and she has chosen you as her couriers."**

**"Chosen? By an AI?"**

**"By this AI, yes. Her measure of you carries as much way as my own..." she moved again and revealed a blue, humanoid AI avatar, sitting cross-legged in a miniature version of the sphere, she glanced up at them before going back to work,**

**"...Perhaps more. You are to take her to the UNSC ship-breaking yards in Aszod. There, you will find a Halycon-class cruiser waiting to get her off-planet."**

**"I understand," Carter told her**.

**"Do you?" Halsey asked, pausing for a moment. "Mankind is outmatched. When Reach falls - and it will fall - our annihilation is all but certain. Unless...we can glean from this artefact a defence against the Covenant. A game-changer. On the level of the conical bullet in the nineteenth century, or faster-than-light travel in the twenty-third."**

**"And what if we can't?"**

**"An apt question if there were somewhere else to place our hope. There is not."**

**She looked at the AI for one last time and shuts off her projection. Halsey then pulled out the seemingly quite heavy data storage unit. Holding the unit with both hands, she walked over to Ruby, presenting the cylinder.**

**"Take it, Lieutenant... She has made her choice."**

**In a moment's hesitation, Ruby looked towards Carter, who nodded at her, so she grabs onto the package.**

**"Do you have it?" Halsey asks her,**

**"Yes."**

**"Say the words, please."**

**"I have it."** **It was only then, Haley let go of the unit as Ruby puts it on her back.**

**As they reached the surface, Noble team and Halsey found two Pelicans waiting for them, Carter turns back to the rest of them,**

**"Dr Halsey, Noble Three will escort you to CASTLE Base." He informed the scientist.**

**"I require no escort, Commander-" she began, but was cut off by the leader of Noble,**

**"Jun, make sure nothing falls into enemy hands."**

**"I'll do what's necessary, sir... Good Luck."**

**"You too, rifleman."** **Jun and Halsey headed into one of the Pelicans while Carter climbs into the other. Ruby and Emile slowly walked back, securing the area. Before heading on themselves.**

**"I need a heading, Dot," Carrer ordered.****"Head three kilometres north, then turn right. Heading zero-five-zero." Was her curt reply**.

**"Which leads to?"**

**"The ship-breaking yard in Azsod. The only off-planet extraction point left on this continent. Small scale air attacks have decimated many convoys en route. An armada of Covenant cruisers have hastened to side as well. UNSC cruiser, Pillar of Autumn is awaiting your arrival."**

**Ruby leaned against the side of the troop bay while Emile just sat on the edge of the bay door watching as they departed from SWORD.**

**"Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy." Carter lamented at the times ahead.**

**Both Ruby and Emile sat back and watched as the ice shelf that the mysterious artefact was on top of collapsed under a massive explosion, dust kicking up as the entire area sunk in like a giant sinkhole.****Ruby then turned around and sat down for the long journey ahead.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Pillar of Autumn

**What's this? two chapters in one 1 month? I'm outdoing myself. I got really motivated and managed to get this done, so here you are. I know there are some discrepancies with this and the end in the main fic, but those will be fixed shortly, don't worry.**

**now I can actually work on the main fic, between school projects and life, so I'll get it out eventually, BUT NO MORE HIATUS! ****anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

**"Noble Leader, seek immediate medical attention." Dot calls out as the feed resumes, Ruby and Emile trying to take out a couple of banshees and a Phantom tailing their Pelecan, which has taken some heavy damage as evident by the flaming engine on the left.**

**"Noble Leader, please respond."**

**At that Ruby turns to go to the cockpit, as one of the banshees fire into the troop bay, hitting her and causing her shields to flair. She turned back to see Emile shoot a grenade, it impacts with one banshee, EMPing it and causing it to crash into the other and whirl into destruction together.**

**Seeing the situation under control, she turns back to making her way to the cockpit, as Carter throws his helmet to the floor. Blood is splattered over the window as Ruby places one hand on the pilot chair for stability, looking at her very injured team leader.**

**"Please respond, Sierra Two-Five-Nine. You are alarming me."**

**He turned back to Ruby. His face is bleeding and his eyes bloodshot, his armour is charred from plasma fire.**

**"Not sure how long she's gonna stay together." He begins, "Skies are jammed up anyways. Gotta get you off her, Lieutenant."**

**"Sir, you-" Ruby begins,**

**"Don't wanna hear it. Get the Package to the _Autumn_."**

**Ruby pauses a moment before replying with a nod, "Done."**

**"Not yet, it's not…" he warns, "Emile, go with her. It's a ground game now."**

**She looks back to see Emile throwing the grenade launcher to the ground and pumping his fist over his chest in salute.**

**"It's been an honour, sir."**

**"Likewise... I'll do what I can to draw their fire."**

**Ruby pulls out the canister holding the AI from her back, and begins to make her way back to the edge of the troop bay, but gest stopped as her Commander adds one last thing,**

**"Red. That AI chose you... She made the right choice."**

**She nods as she joins Emile at the edge of the bay door, crouched ready to jump. Carter holds up his fingers for them to see, "On my mark!" He says dropping his fingers one by one till his fist is there as he calls out, "Mark!"**

**At his word Ruby and Emile jump down, going into a pile drive and sliding down a canyon wall. The rough landing takes out both their shields, but after they get back up, they see the damaged Pelican flying overhead luring the Covenant away. After a quick check of the AI core to make sure it was safe, it is replaced on her back, and she picks up her DMR and starts down the road ahead.**

**They approached another cliff, looking down the valley, a large shape of buildings in the distance.**

**"Still with us, Commander?" Emile asked,**

**"Stay low, let me draw the heat. You just deliver that Package."**

**"There's our destination, Red," Emile said pointing to the buildings, "_Pillar of Autumn_. Race you to her."**

**"Your on," she said, but her tone serious. They headed up, taking out a squad of Covenant distracted by Carter flying overhead. By the road was some all juts where they replenished ammo, and a couple of mongeese lay.**

**"Got transport," Emile noted at the pair of quads.**

**Following the road for a bit, they came into a huge clearing, drop pods fell from the sky around them, but the Spartans didn't pay them any heed, not even when a Scarab fell almost on top of them.**

**"Do not engage! Go on, Red!" Emile yelled, and Ruby drove faster, Carter being a saving grace, distracting the huge walker.**

**Get the Package out of there. Remember your objective!" Carter reminded her.**

**"You don't have to tell twice!"**

**The edge of the clearing was near as more pods and yet another Scarab fell, just as they reached the edge. A little further down the road, and a gap could be seen in a bridge. But neither Spartan hesitated.**

**"Get your head up, Red. We're gonna have to jump it!"**

**"So I get a package and all of a sudden I can't think for myself then?!" She called out in reply, her tone was serious but everyone knew she just wanted the commentary gone as they approached the jump.**

**A Phantom flew overhead as the jump raced up to them. They made it, but Barricades blocked the road, so they both got off and continued on foot.**

**Knowing they didn't really have time to take out the forces in the normal way, Ruby just called to Emile.**

**"Cover me, I'll take care of most of them, but get the stragglers."**

**He nodded and with a burst of her semblance, she flew towards the wraith, taking out what she could along the way, and slammed into the tank. The force already putting a huge dent into the hull, she then stuck a grenade in and rushed back to Emile, taking out the rest of the stragglers as the tank exploded. The pair nodded to each other before heading through the cave behind the Wraith scrap.**

**"Noble! You got a...situation." Carter warned as one of the scarabs dropped in front of them, charging up its main cannon.**

**"Mother... We can get past it, sir!" Emile yelled as they both started backing up to cover.**

**"No you can't. Not without help."**

**"Commander, you don't have the firepower!" Just as it was going to fire, Carter flew overhead, distracting it with gunfire to the hull. It turns overhead to face the Pelican, not charging its beam in alarm.**

**"I've got the mass."**

**"Solid copy. Hit 'em hard, boss."**

"What does he mean?" Yang asked confused. Ruby did say anything but pointed back to the screen.

**The bird rounds itself and begins to fly towards the walker.**

**"You're on your own, Noble... Carter out."**

**Carter ramed the Pelican into the Scarab's side, it goes out in an explosion that causes the Scarab to lose its balance and fall down the cliff, seemingly screaming as it did so. Shortly after another explosion is heard as Emile turns to Ruby.**

**"Crevice to the east. Let's go." Is all he says as Ruby nods and follows after him.**

**A little later they enter a cave littered with Marine bodies,**

**"Buggers. All quiet." Emile warns,**

Ruby pauses the feed once again, just as a flying bug creature appears on screen.

"Almost forgot about these." She said, gesturing to the alien, "Drones, come in packs and like to swarm enemies. Extremely hard to hit, if you don't know how."

**After the brief message, The feed resumes as the Drones fly erratically while firing on the two Spartans, but they all dropped quickly as they advanced. The next section had Skirmishes that too, were taken down swiftly.**

**They were approaching the cave exit now, as the huge Drydock facility could be seen, with troopers fighting off Covenant that seemed to have control of the area.**

**"Spartans! Over here!" A trooper called, waving at them as she got cover fire.**

**"Understood. We've got to get to the drydock. Priority One." Emile told her, as a voice came over the Comms,**

**This is Captain Keyes of the _Pillar of Autumn_. We are tracking you, Noble, but we've got a lot of signals. See you at dry dock, Platform D. I'll be on it myself to receive the Package."**

**"We'll be there, sir," Emile vowed to the Captain,**

**You'd better be, soldier, because my countdown is no abort."**

**It took them a while, but the squads of troopers and Spartans pushed forward and made their way out of the titanium works and towards the now-massive _Pillar of Autumn,_ with service cranes all about it, and Point-Defence Cannons firing at the invading Phantoms and banshees.**

**"What's the situation?"**

**Emile asked one of the nearby troopers.**

**"We rigged the mass driver up top. We lose that, the _Autumn_ will have no covering fire. She'll never make orbit." He explained pointing towards the large gun, looking like a small MAC pointed forward.**

**"Noble to Keyes: we're at the pad," Ruby said as Emile followed the troopers, and she went towards the landing pads below.**

**"Copy, Noble. My Pelican's ready. Clear an LZ and I'll meet you there."**

**"Will do, sir."**

**"All right, Six…" Emile said to her, "This is it. I'll man the big gun. You just get to the platform and deliver that Package."**

**Another nod and she headed off to the land pad, going into the hut nearby and restocking ammo.**

**"I'll take out as many Phantoms and Banshees as I can!" Emile called out to her as he fired at a nearby Phantom that was about to drop troops in.**

**Wave after wave of Covenant appeared, as Ruby eventually dealt with them all, and secured Keyes' LZ.**

**"LZ clear, Captain," Ruby confirmed,**

**"This is Keyes, on hot approach to Platform Delta." Two Pelicans closed in and one turned around to reveal a man with short hair and a white uniform, surrounded by Marines in the troop bay, he came forward as the Troopers covered Ruby's six.**

**"Good to see you, Spartan." Keyes told her, "Catherine assured me I could count on you."**

"Cathrine? Not Halsey?" Blake asked?"

"Yeah, they were a fling quite a while ago," Ruby confirmed, "And even had a kid, Though she joined the Navy with her dad, believe her name is Miranda. I guess even though they aren't together, they're still on a first-name basis."

**"Not just me, sir." She added solemnly as she handed over the AI core. He put a hand on her shoulder as he took the canister.**

**"They'll be remembered." He assured her.**

**A low throbbing hum drew their attention as a Covenant Cruiser loomed through the gloom of the storm currently blowing over them.**

**"Cruiser!" Keyes called out, "Adjusting heading for the _Autumn_! Noble Four, I need fire on that cruiser or we're not getting out of here! Do you copy?**

**" You'll have your window, sir."**

**The Mass Driver turned to face the ship floating in the sky like a bad omen.**

**"Bridge, this is the Captain. We have the Package. Returning to the _Autumn_, over."**

**"Copy that, over."**

**Suddenly a Phantom appeared, using its main cannon to take out the escorting Pelican and sending Keyes' reeling to dodge. It flew overhead and towards Emile, but before Ruby could provide covering fire, the Grunt manning the Plasma cannon fired on Ruby, forcing her to reel and try to minimise her size to avoid getting hit.**

**By the time she regained the ability to look up, Two Zealots dropped from the Phantom, one landing on the canopy, Sword drawn. Emile cried out and blast it with his shotgun, causing it to fall over, as he got up, and pump another round into its chest, killing it.**

**"Who's Next?!" He taunted, looking around**

**"Emile! Your six!" Ruby called out just as the other Zealot, ran him through and he roared in pain, while being lifted up.**

**But he wasn't done yet as he pulled out his kukri,**

**"I'm ready! He yelled, "How 'bout you?!" He asked as he drove the knife into the Zealots throat, causing them both to fall off the canopy, and Emile to groan, as his life obviously came to a halt.**

**"Lieutenant, get on board!" A Marine called from the Pelican behind her, "We gotta get the hell out of here!"**

**"Negative. I have the gun." She replied, voice resolved, as she turned back to the drydock, "Good luck, sir."**

**"...Good luck to you, Spartan." He replied solemnly as the Pelican flew off.**

**With no Marines left, Ruby used her semblance to rush through the Covenant, her knife spraying blood as she took down one enemy at a time, including the remaining two Zealots part of the squad that killed Emile.**

**Upon reaching the Mass Driver, she took a second to look at Emile, two holes through his chest plate, neat and precise.**

**"Cruiser, moving into position. I need it dead! Noble Six!" Keyes pulled Ruby out of her mourning as she took control of the cannon, and just in time as Phantoms and Banshees assaulted her, e****ach being taken out with one shot of the gun.**

**"Mass driver won't crack those shields! Steady, Spartan!" Keyes told her, as she focused on the Phantoms, but she didn't let the central disk of the Cruiser charging up.**

**"Fire! Now, Lieutenant!" Keyes commanded, "Hit her in the gut!"**

**As soon as a gap in the Phantoms came, she fired on the central part on the Cruiser. The shot caused the core section to explode, and the Cruiser to fall as Ruby got up and out of the massive gun.**

**"Good guns, Spartan." The Captain complimented, "All stations: brace for cast-off."**

**Ruby watched as the UNSC ship rise out of the dry dock, Pelican boarding one of the bays on its side,**

**With assisting boosters on the bottom, it banked out and pushed forward and into the sky, hiding behind the clouds**

**"This is the _Pillar of Autumn_." Keyes broadcasted, "We're away. And the Package is with us."**

**Ruby picked up Emile's dog tags, and readied her DMR for the inevitable Covenant Army to rein upon her.**

"So, they just left you, to die," Yang stated, a bit bitter at the fact that her sister was left for dead.

"Well, what choice did they have?" Ruby argued, "The _Autumn_ was the last Slipspace capable Human ship on the planet, and it had way too valuable things on it to risk the entire crew and data for one Spartan."

"Still-"

"Not still," she cut off her sister, "I knew I was sacrificing myself to get that ship off-world, and even if I had found a ship able to get me to space, it would be impossible to get out alive, and then, where would I go?

"So how did you end up here?" Blake asked, seeing as Ruby had omitted that she was pretty much ready to die then.

"I got pretty lucky." Her team leader replied, and she pointed to the feed.

**Ruby was in a valley with various ruins and many corpses of Spartans and Marines littered the area, Phantoms and Spirits dropped off waves of covenant and while Ruby put up a strong fight, she tired and began to falter, as the screen got cracks on it, she pauses for a moment to toss the damaged helmet aside, picking up a nearby AR and continuing the fight.**

**An Elite Ultra charges at the at Ruby, the camera in her helmet clipping of her head, as the split-jaw fired a plasma rifle. She guns it down with the assault rifle, as General attacks from behind with an energy sword, she rammed it with her shoulder knocking it to the ground and kills it with a pistol. More shots are fired from off-screen and it hits her, she staggers, but recovers hip-firing the AR in one direction and the Magnum in the other. She managed to kill two more Elites before an Ultra knocked her to the ground.**

**A Zealot approached behind her with an Energy Sword and prepared to kill the downed Spartan, but Ruby kicked the Ultra away and knocked the Energy Sword out of the Zealot's hand. The Ultra pounced on her again, but she elbowed it in the jaw, the Zealot, now recovered drew an energy dagger. A third Sangheili steps into the frame, but just the foot and the tips of an Energy Sword hang within the view of the camera.**

**The Zealot pounced on Ruby again, and lunged at her with the dagger, but as it might have looked like it made contact, a whirl of petals split into 3 and go round the Elite, she picked up the Energy Sword it dropped and ran it through the Zealot, before pulling it out and slashing the Ultra.**

**The third Elite had the opportunity to focus and reel back from the shock of what happened and put up some resistance. Both blades clashing just off-camera until eventually, another burst of petals, and Ruby, clearly exhausted, bleeding, wheezing, limping, picked up her helmet again, and put it under her arm, as she stumbled to a Bunker door she had found earlier, but was jammed shut.**

**Now with the Covenant no longer pursuing her, she managed to hack the electronic lock, got inside and collapsed to the floor.**

"I slept for quite a while there," Ruby said, fast-forwarding, to when she woke up

**She woke up with a small gasp, and after a few moments of fiddling, she lifted her helmet up, to see that her wounds had been dressed, as she put the helmet back on.**

"Yes it was damaged, but it still protects from plasma a hellova lot better than skin." Ruby clarified, "Since I had pretty much recovered as much as I would at that point, I decided to go look for more survivors, see if we could go out together, sorta thing," her teammates frowned at that, "But what I found instead, was this:"

**The feed had fast forward to when Ruby was looking at a building with Covenant surrounding it, it was similar in architectural style to the ruins beneath SWORDBASE, but had a different overall shape.**

**After eliminating the Covenant excavating and guarding the area, she was exploring when suddenly a noise came behind her along with a robotic voice of,**

**"Ah, Reclaimer!" she spun round to face her assailant, her DMR at the ready.**

**The voice's owner was a silver orb, made seemingly of the same material as the structure, with a large blue dot in the centre, making it look like some weird eyeball,**

**"I am 413-Sovereign Martyr, monitor of this shield world installation, At least I was until The Didact got corrupted with the Logic Plague, then the shield world upgrade was cancelled half complete." The orb chuckled before floating around Ruby.**

**"It appears your combat skin is damaged, and out of date, I can upgrade it if you like, along with body augmentations that will help you withstand the flood, though I must say, your weapons would be terribly ineffective."**

**She still held the DMR up to the mysterious construct. Even if it seemed to have no apparent threat,**

**"I assure you I mean no harm Reclaimer, I am simply suggesting that we get to a safer location so I can do what is necessary." Sovereign Martyr stated, as she lowered her weapon.**

**"You're who I saw all those years ago." She realized, "The one who teleported me from my Homeworld."**

"A similar construct had teleported me from here to New Harmony," Ruby clarified.

**"I can assure you that was not me Reclaimer, I have not met one of your kind in approximately 100,000 of your measurement of years. Shall we go?" he asked in a joyous tone.**

**"Yes…" came the nervous reply.**

She paused the feed there.

"It gave me further augmentations, making me as I am now, and upgraded my armour which, by his standards, was a class 2 out of 9 he could make there, and even now is only a class 4."

"Wow," Yang said, astounded by the possibility,

"Hang on, he said he hadn't seen a human for 100,000 years," Weiss said, "But, you said it was 2552, when you were there."

"Ah, well there a slight discrepancy there, I forgot to ask him about it, since we sure as hell weren't in space 100,000 years ago, but Homo Sapiens have been around, from Earth at least, for about 250,000 years, that's the Latin name assigned to us, a dead language used about 2,000 years ago now." She clarified.

"And the Flood?" Weiss asked,

"Apparently, he forgot to check the database, and they were recorded as extinct, so, nothing to worry about there.

After the Augmentations, he suggested I use the apparent portal network to get off-world, and after realising that it was the same way I got here, I asked for this planet, and… here I am, Ozpin found me, we struck a deal and now I'm your team leader."

"Is this why your pushing us so hard?" Weiss asked, looking upto her leader with some concern."

"Kind of, yes. But also I just want the best of you. I guess this is my military upbringing for you, but I don't want to see your potential waisted, y'know, it just feels... Wrong."

"Are you worried about them finding Remnant?" Blake asked, Ruby noticing her bow was drooping slightly,

"Again, yes, as you saw we were utterly devastated on Reach. Granted, that was the biggest Covenant force we ever encountered, but with the tech and weapons you have, even with Aura and Semblances, they would slaughter you." Ruby sighed. "I wanted to find a new life, but my old one is still haunting me." She picked up the Tac pad and attached it to her wrist, "The Covenant can do precise slip-space jumps, something that was previously thought impossible. They have highly advanced weaponry, tech and force capabilities, the only reason the UNSC stood a chance was the Spartan program. If they come here, even if its one or two carriers, unless we can find a way to get up into atmosphere, we're toast."

"Does anyone else know this?" Blake followed up.

"Only you, I told Ozpin about the Covenant, but I still don't trust him enough to tell him everything, he's hiding something himself. It's hidden well, but after the amount of capture and interrogate missions I've been on over the years, I can tell."

Blake nodded solemnly, as Ruby got up, "Well, we should probably head back, it's getting late."

"What time is it?" Weiss questioned,

"20 hundred." came the reply,

"Eight o'clock! We've been in here for 4 hours!"

"Yup," came the Spartans reply, "Now come on, don't want to be caught past curfew."


End file.
